Beginning next fall, MSU students will have the option to live among their male and female friends when the first floor of Holden Hall becomes coed by suite.

Holmes, McDonel, Case, Wonders and Wilson halls currently are the only dorms on campus to offer coed housing.

Fred Kayne, associate director of University Housing, said men and women in MSU residence halls were almost completely isolated from one another as recently as 35 years ago, when the first coed floor on campus was implemented.

Now, MSU has more than a dozen coed floors that house more than 900 students, which is about 6 percent of all students that live in residence halls.

Joshua Gillespie, director of Holden Hall, said students had been requesting coed housing for several years, and he hopes the new arrangement will encourage more interaction between residents.

"It will be a facsimile of apartment living," Gillespie said. "It should facilitate what mentors have to do anyway, which is fuse the floors together."

No-preference freshmen Brian Ziegler and Brian Adams, who are roommates on the first floor of West Holden Hall, said they were considering staying on the floor next year, but the switch to coed cemented their decision.

The two said they like that the coed floor will allow them to meet girls more easily, and they're not concerned that the change will be a problem.

"It can only bother us as much as we want - if we don't like them, we can shut the door," Adams said. "It's a win-win situation."

But some students say coed living has its drawbacks.

Megan McCririe, who also lives on the first floor of West Holden, said she too will be staying on the floor next year, but her decision had little to do with the switch to coed.

McCririe did say, however, that men will probably introduce problems of their own to a women's floor.

"Girls tend to be more petty with guys around - it's just natural," said McCririe, a no-preference freshman. "Girls bond better together when it's just girls."

Despite the differing opinions, many universities across the nation have some form of coed residence halls.

Kayne estimated the 6 percent of students on coed floors at MSU puts the university in the middle of the pack among Big Ten universities as far as the amount of coed housing offered.

The University of Wisconsin currently houses only 63 of its more than 6,700 residence hall students on floors that are coed by suite, which is less than 1 percent.

Alan Levy, director of housing public affairs for the University of Michigan, estimated that 20 percent of its residence hall students live coed either by suite or by room.

The popularity of coed dorms in Big Ten universities could be due to the sense of community coed residents say they feel.

Catie Cohan, who lives on a coed floor in Wilson Hall, said she likes the social balance that men and women bring to each other.

"Having both sexes on the floor makes it easier to get along," said Cohan, a human resource management sophomore. "With girls, it's very estrogen-filled - there are so many emotions flying around."

Cohan said her floor's residents often will go to dinner together in the cafeteria or go out together on the weekends, but a lot of the residents have gotten to know each other through more informal gatherings.

"Everybody always knows what everybody else is doing," Cohan said. "A lot of times, we just stay in and hang out together because these are our friends."

Cole Allen, a no-preference freshman who lives down the hall from Cohan, said a main reason why coed floor residents are closer is because they're more accessible to one another.

"My friends come over here and hang out because it's not like their floor," Allen said.

Many residence hall officials said coed floors often are desirable from a management perspective, as well.

Gillespie said he anticipates the coed floors will generate more interaction between sexes, more coed athletic teams and even a form of neighborhood watch as men look out for the safety of their female neighbors.

"My concern for you becomes greater because you are my hallmate," Gillespie said. "The better I know you, the more protective I will be."

Chandos McCoy, manager of McDonel Hall, said he doesn't manage his hall's six coed floors any differently than others, and coed floors typically give him fewer problems than those with only men or women.

"It's normal human dynamics - if you really think about it, males and females do a good job of balancing each other out behaviorally," McCoy said.

Coed living isn't for every student, and students have plenty of options to get some breathing room from the opposite sex.

Stephanie Johnson, a music performance junior, lived in the all-female Yakeley Hall her freshman year. Johnson then moved to a coed floor in Williams Hall, but made the decision to go back to Yakeley this year.

She said Yakeley's social atmosphere and location encouraged her to come back.

"It's not as catty as people say it usually will be," Johnson said. "I've actually met more guys here because they find out it's all girls and come say 'hey.'"

Coed living also presents problems for some international students and others who come from different social, religious and cultural backgrounds.

Farhan Abdul Azeez, spokesman for MSU's Muslim Students' Association, said the Islamic faith generally discourages social mingling of the sexes, except for productive purposes, such as academics and business.

"Ideally, a Muslim student from a Muslim background would want it separate, but you make do with what you have," Azeez said. "I wish the university would take into consideration all students in these decisions."

McCoy said despite a previous request from his hall government to make the dorm completely coed by suite, he doesn't expect coed housing to take over campus anytime soon.

He said safety concerns and logistical problems, such as the presence of community bathrooms, would continue to keep some dorms and separate.