Lucille Clement Hall will be going co-ed next fall.
It will be the first residence hall to house men and women in ETSU’s history.
Lucille Clement, which currently houses women, holds over 400 students and is the most efficient for changing into a co-ed hall, said Bonnie Burchett, assistant director of housing and residence life.
The men’s and women’s rooms will probably be separated by floor, and plans are also being made to refurnish the rooms with more flexible furniture that can be moved around. An access door will probably separate the two wings.
Twenty-four-hour visitation in residence halls was approved last summer by the Tennessee Board of Regents and will go into effect next fall.
Changes have already been made to Dossett Hall, which was formerly a women’s hall, and now houses men. The staff at West Hall, for women, is now working together with the staff from Dossett.
“We have a female director that lives in Dossett Hall, (who’s) over Dossett and West,” Burchett said. “I think the experience with having this year together has given us a good intro into it. It can work.”
The First Year Study Program will also be directly impacted by going co-ed. “We want to make Lucille Clement kind of the hub of our first-year study,” Burchett said.
The first-year program is designed to help first-year students adjust to life on campus. The lobby at Lucille Clement will become the first-year study and resource center.
The college adjustment class designed for first-year students who didn’t do well in their first semester is already taught in Lucille Clement.
“We are trying to build a community among our population,” Burchett said. “I think we’re headed in the right direction.”
The co-ed dorms have become common in many universities.
“I think one of the key things in housing anymore is options,” she said.

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