Coed rooms violate lease agreements

Van Pelt College House officials allowed students to live in at least two coed suites despite Residential Living regulations prohibiting unmarried people from living together in dormitories. Van Pelt Faculty Master Michael Zuckerman said he and other Van Pelt officials from last year approved the arrangements but Residential Living officials said they knew nothing about it. College seniors Nancy Levy and Elizabeth Gerst, College junior David Davidson and College sophomore Seth Goren are all listed in the Student Directory as living in Room 202 of the college house. In addition, Engineering senior Aaron Fuegi and College senior Sharon Jackson are both listed as occupants of Van Pelt's Room 114. The students said they were not attempting to break Residential Living rules and that they were told they were allowed to share suites with the opposite sex as part of a pilot project. But Residential Living Director Gigi Simeone said yesterday she had no knowledge of coed apartments in Van Pelt. "Our policy is pretty explicit in that matter," she said. But Simeone said she will "investigate the situation," adding that "it would be premature for me to speculate on what we might do." Chris Dennis, director of the college house program, also said that the coed living arrangements in Van Pelt are "in violation of [lease] agreements." But Zuckerman said that he and other Van Pelt officials approved of the arrangement last semester. Zuckerman said that that not all of those involved in the decision still work at the house. He said that the students were not told that the arrangement violates University rules, and were not told to refrain from discussing the arrangement with others. Zuckerman, a History professor, said that if Residential Living officials find out about the arrangement, the students might be forced to relocate. He said he does not feel that his job is in jeopardy, but he said that others' jobs might be. Current Van Pelt Administrative Fellow Catherine Johnson, interviewed before Zuckerman admitted he approved the arrangement, was reluctant to comment on the discrepancy between University policy and the reality in Van Pelt. "It does happen, but it doesn't happen," she said. "The people who told you they share a suite were lying . . . everything they told you was a lie." College senior Gerst said she started organizing the coed apartment with her current roommate, College junior Davidson, last year and discussed it with then-Van Pelt Administrative Fellow A.T. Miller. "Van Pelt really didn't have a problem with it," Gerst said, but added she and her housemates "had to do a little bit of finagling." "This was proposed to us as an experimental living situation," said Gerst. "We, all four of us, were under the impression that the rules had been changed," said Davidson. "We were not aware that this was unofficial, and we weren't given any cautionary advice." Gerst added that the four received confirmation of their rooming situation on stationery with the Residential Living Department letterhead. She said she even called Residential Living in the fall to verify her housing situation and had someone read off the names of her roommates. Although Nancy and Elizabeth are clearly female names and David and Seth are male names, nobody questioned it, she said. "We were assured everything was in order by A.T. Miller," she said. "If he knew there was a problem, he did not give them information and did not convey that information." Miller, who is no longer at the University, could not be reached for comment. Staff Writers Scott Calvert and Jeremy Selwyn contributed to this story.

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