During her freshman year at UC Berkeley, Jane Chang was surrounded by other science students as part of the Women in Science and Engineering themed dormitory.
The suite-style housing complex was located close to campus and the science buildings and gained a reputation for being academically minded.
“People were always studying,” the recent graduate said. “But since I was a biology major, I fit right in.”
Approximately 7,500 students live in a mix of university apartments, suites, residence halls and family housing, said Marty Takimoto, UC Berkeley spokesman.
Housing options can range from Clark Kerr ““ one of the newly renovated buildings on campus that includes traditional dorm rooms and suites ““ to more specialized themed housing, like Chang’s program.
Themes vary from transfer student-specific complexes to cultural history houses such as the Asian Pacific American themed house.
A distinct variation is the Unity House, which offers mixed gender room assignments and has connections to gender and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender studies programs. While coed roommates may be an anomaly at other universities, it was simply a natural progression of student requests at UC Berkeley, Takimoto said.
Up until the mid-1980s, every dormitory on the UC Berkeley campus was single-sex. Over time, students requested more coed interaction in the dorms, and some single-gender living situations morphed into mixed-gender floors and eventually rooms, Takimoto said.
True to their beginnings, two dorms have retained the all-female and all-male atmosphere.
While there has been some talk of converting the all-male dorm to a coed environment, Takimoto said the building was originally donated under the stipulation that it would remain this way.
UC Berkeley also offers lodging in the International House, which is a multicultural living complex that brings international and American students together, said Magda Rogosz, a recent graduate of UC Berkeley.
Rogosz never lived in university housing during her two years at Berkeley, but she said she had friends in the International House who enjoyed the diverse atmosphere.
While the house allows for exposure to foreign languages and cultures, Rogosz said it also comes with an expensive price tag that is only occasionally offset by scholarships.