Few students may realize there is a "nunnery" in West Andrews Hall. Hidden on the basement floor of this Pembroke residence, a handful of women hailing from as far as Zambia and as close as New Jersey share an exclusively female hall decked with comical pictures of nuns and a Residential Counselor they jokingly call "Mother Superior."
Though some of the women willingly requested all-female housing, others were arbitrarily assigned the location by the Office of Residential Life. In both cases, the residents of the nunnery gave The Herald some insight into the realities of living in single-sex housing and what it means to be a "nun" in West Andrews.
"We're just making fun of the whole all-girl stereotype. We don't take it seriously," said Godhuli Bhattacharya '09. "We have pictures of a nun with a gun and a pregnant nun. It's just a joke."
Other pictures include images of nuns smoking cigarettes and riding bumper cars, with captions that read "for the sisters of St. Nicotine's, everyday was Ash Wednesday" and "The Bumpin' for Jesus race was always a highlight of the annual sister's day out."
But the origin of "The Nunnery" nickname remains something of a mystery. The hall's "Mother Superior," En-Ling Wu '08, said she thinks the nickname for the longtime all-female hallway dates back to the 1980s or 1990s. "Or maybe it was due to the fact that we sing to 'The Sound of Music,'" she said.
Hallway resident Rosi Greenberg '09 speculates that perhaps it is a reference to "Hamlet," and Krishna Chokshi '09 vaguely remembers discussing the term with her RC earlier this school year. No one is quite certain.
Aside from sharing the mysteriously dubbed "Nunnery," the girls of West Andrews also share a diverse range of backgrounds and interests. Joanna Abousleiman '09 comes from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. Chokshi is an animal rights activist. Noor Najeeb '09, a Wisconsin native and another resident of the Nunnery, said it is this diversity and culture that greatly contribute to the single-sex housing experience.
Still, while some residents are content with all-female housing, others, such as Helena Anrather '09, would have preferred a co-ed living environment. "While single-sex education has its benefits, it can actually be pretty educational and important to live with the opposite sex, at the very least to demystify stereotypes and break down gender boundaries," she said.
Anrather was placed in single-sex housing by ResLife. Rosario Navarro, assistant director of housing, said this occasionally happens to first-years by default when a vacancy matches the gender. In addition to the West Andrews basement level, other single-sex housing for 2005-2006 includes all of Metcalf Hall (all female) and the first floor of Miller Hall, which is all male. Navarro said each year a significant number of students are interested in this type of special interest housing for several reasons.
The most compelling allure of single-sex housing, according to pleased Nunnery residents, is the "greater degree of satisfaction and comfort in simple things like the bathroom," Bhattacharya said.
Navarro noted that while co-ed residences such as Hope College or Slater Hall have designated women's and men's restrooms, not everyone observes them, sometimes causing inconvenience and discomfort for certain individuals. Navarro said this may be the biggest incentive to go single-sex.
Najeeb said she prefers single-sex housing because she and the people that surround her are "bonded by a certain commonality of values."
Between private bathrooms and close relationships, some of the residents of the Nunnery are convinced that single-sex housing has been a great experience and would be worth trying again next year. Bhattacharya, Najeeb, Chokshi and Abousleiman all plan to live together in the fall in an all-girls section of New Pembroke. Their one jocular complaint was that while other special interest groups, such as substance-free and all-male housing, receive "better" dorms, all-female housing is allocated to the "worst" dorms on campus. "Is this is a reflection of a patriarchal society?" Chokshi asked.
But future housing plans aside, most of the residents enjoy being a part of the Nunnery.
"I love living in West Andrews because I love the people that I live with and the relationships I have with them. That's not to say that if I had lived somewhere else I wouldn't love that too ... but this place will always be special to me," Wu said.
