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KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / MONDAY, MARCH 8, 2010 / APARTMENT GUIDE
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Students make co-ed living arrangements work
David Mills, a senior from Rapid City, S.D., and Laura Wood, a junior from Eden Prairie, Minn., hang out in their apartment. The two are roommates and both have significant others. Mills' girlfriend, Catherine Meihaus, said was fine with the situation.
BY ELLEN SHEFTEL
esheftel@kansan.com
When guys think about living with a girl, they often think of makeup, hair products and bickering. When girls think about living with a guy, they often think of crushed beer cans, empty pizza boxes and smelly socks. Despite these stereotypes, some men and women choose to live together.
David Mills, a senior from Rapid City, S.D., said that living with a lot of fraternity men was a blast, but he wanted something quieter and more relaxed. Mills and his roommate Laura Wood, a junior from Eden Prairie, Minn., currently live in a three-bedroom apartment. Wood and Mills met through mutual friends in the summer of 2007.
Before living with Mills, Wood lived in a house on Tennessee Street with six other girls.
"Living with a bunch of girls wasn't bad. I'm actually doing it again next year with eight girls, but living with just one guy is really easy," Wood said.
Deborah Fraser/KANSAN
Mills and Wood are both in relationships with other people.
Catherine Meihaus, a junior from St. Louis, has been dating Mills for almost five months. Meihaus had met Wood before Mills and said she was surprised that she knew his roommate before him. She also said that Wood explained to her that Wood had a boyfriend right away.
"Some people might think it's weird that we're not dating and we live together, but that's just how it is," Mills said.
"He was really up-front about it." Meihaus said.
She also said her friends who did not know the story were sometimes taken aback.
"They always ask, 'How do you handle it?' Meihaus said. "They think I'm crazy, but if they knew David they would know it's not a big deal."
Wood and Meihaus have mutual friends and get along well. The two are going to Mexico for spring break.
Lori Monroe, leasing and marketing manager at The Reserve apartment complex, 2511 W. 31st St., said The Reserve has quite a few apartments that are co-ed. Monroe said if a resident would like to be placed in a co-ed apartment, he or she must state so in the lease.
"Off the top of my head, I would say we have about 15 to 20 apartments that are co-ed," Monroe said.
"Basically when everyone signs a lease, they fill out a preference card where they pick
male, female or co-ed," Monroe said.
"When I come across someone who wants to live in a co-ed apartment but does not have the name of a specific roommates, I base it
off of the other preferences, such as drinking, smoking, studying, etc."
— Edited by Melissa Johnson
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