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| Junior Monica Davis is the resident assistant living with 22 first-year men in Rorem. “They feel more open talking to me about things like homesickness,” she says. |
Last year facial night was the most popular activity resident assistant Monica Davis scheduled for her floor. Organizing activities is a little different this year with 22 male residents in Rorem Hall. “I didn’t do facials,” says the junior from Keokuk, Iowa, “but we did have a March Madness event.”
Many of the first-year men are athletes, including nine football players.
Most of them say they see Davis first as their RA, rather than as a woman.
Davis agrees that they treat her respectfully, but says they do let their guards down, such as to “show me the things they shop for like a girl would.” She says she has assumed a “mom” role on the floor and is the resident fashion consultant.
In 1978 Cornell broke the gender barrier by offering co-ed dorms. Today Cornell students have the option of living in single-sex dorms, in buildings that mix men’s and women’s floors/wings, or in halls that house men and women together on the same floor. This is the first year women resident assistants are in charge of men’s floors.
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