Tufts’ sex policy patronizing

New rules at Tufts University in Boston officially ban students from having sex inside dorm rooms while their roommates are present, CNN reported Sept. 29.

The policy, printed in this year’s student handbook, also calls for an end to “sexiling”—the act of casting one roommate out so the other can secure privacy to engage in sexual activity.

The Residential Life Office at Tufts reported about a dozen complaints over the past few years relating to students’ concerns with their roommates’ sex lives interrupting sleep and study time.

Tufts’ policy addresses a matter of common courtesy that students should be mature enough to observe without needing it spelled out in a handbook.

Living in residence is a growth experience and a way to develop life skills beyond the classroom. Residence administration should have faith students will learn the courtesies of cohabitation as part of this natural learning curve. Conflict resolution is a skill students should be able to develop in real time, without resorting to a patronizing clause in a guidebook.

Even for those without a roommate, residence provides practice living in close quarters and an exercise in co-operation. It’s not easy sharing living space, but that’s no excuse for students not to employ common sense and discuss parameters with their roommates.

It’s unclear how Tufts plans to enforce the new policy. The Residential Life Office likely has more pressing issues to focus on than patrolling roommates’ sex lives. A concern that’s affected only a handful of students in recent years seems unworthy of serious intervention. It’s also difficult to define what the rule considers “sexual activity” to be, leaving grey areas in the policy.

Pierre Trudeau’s famous assertion that the state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation is also relevant to school authorities and residence halls. Hopefully other universities won’t follow in Tufts’ footsteps by implementing patronizing dorm room policies.

Until any serious incident comes of sharing the space in residence, there’s no reason to rewrite the rules of roommates’ romances.

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