In the 1890's, Penn State "coeds" were not permitted to receive visits from gentlemen in their dorm parlors or anywhere else on campus.
And in 1953, adult chaperones were a required presence at all orchestra and record dances and similar fraternity affairs, according to an Interfraternity Unchaperoned Dating Code.
But today, many female and male University students live together under one roof, without the frowns of housemothers or chaperones to keep them honest.
Most students say that coed living, when platonic, isn't a big deal.
Christian Fahlen and Karen Staman decided to live together in what they call their "castle" on South Barnard Street after living near each other in Atherton Hall last year.
"It really wasn't a guys-opposed-to-girls thing. It just turned out that they were two of my closest friends and it seemed natural," Staman said.
Although other students didn't think their coed arrangements were anything extraordinary, Staman's parents were a little wary about the idea.
"My dad was concerned. He wanted to meet both of the guys first and make sure they weren't drug dealers," said Staman (sophomore-division of undergraduate studies).
"I didn't tell my grandmother," said Fahlen (senior-English), smiling about his covert living conditions.
The three roommates wake each other up on weekend mornings, reading the paper and lounging in one of the apartment's two bedrooms.
"There's a nice amount of tenderness between us," Fahlen said.
The biggest potential conflict is not gender related but neatness related, he said.
Opening Staman's bedroom door (which is usually closed) gives a clue as to who's the messy one.
Fahlen, on the other hand, is a self-proclaimed neatness obsessive. He spots a forlorn tea bag on the coffee table and picks it up. "This should have been thrown out," he said, with a shake of the head.
Dave Bowes, a close friend of the three roommates, described Fahlen's neatness a bit differently.
"Apparently something in Chris' past makes him think he's a mother," said Bowes (junior-medieval studies).
Fahlen shoos his roommates out of the kitchen when he's cooking. Never does a roommate leave the apartment without a scarf on a blustery day or scuff around slipperless on the cold floors while Fahlen's around.
Even Fahlen admits his mothering role.
"(Staman) is more of a man than we are," he said.
Fahlen and Staman seem to have found perfect roommates in each other, but coed living is not always as dreamy.
Jenifer Beh is moving out of the house she shares with mostly male roommates because she cannot live in a "dirty environment," she said.
Although she lived successfully with a male friend this summer, the men with whom she currently lives cause constant mess in the bathroom and kitchen, said Beh (junior-elementary education).
During the summer, she and Phil Fuentes shared an apartment in which they each had separate bedrooms.
Though Beh and Fuentes agree living together was a positive experience, Fuentes, "a virgin to living with women," said he did not like it when Beh had her period.
Fuentes said he'll never forget the day Beh had terrible menstrual cramps. She was writhing in pain on the couch and he tried to aid her by giving her a book telling how to relieve cramps without drugs, he said.
Beh threw the book at him and screamed for him to get her some drugs, said Fuentes (senior-speech communications). He escaped from the apartment and didn't return until late that night, he added.
"It was a memorable experience," he said.
Beh and Fuentes laugh about how sterotypically they delegated household chores. Though both are feminists, Fuentes said he usually took out the garbage and Beh did the dishes.
"I tended to cook. He's clueless," Beh said.
Living with a roommate of the opposite sex was different, and in certain ways, more restrictive, she said.
Fuentes disagreed. He still walked around in his underwear.
"In an apartment setting I would rather live with a woman than a man. I just felt a lot more comfortable," he said. "It had to do with our being friends, not our genders."
