How College Dorms Evolved to Fit America's Gender and Racial Politics

I suspect that the experience of sharing living quarters in the military did much the same for us as for those who attended traditional campus colleges. (I couldn't say inasmuch as I attended a city based college campus, living at home) and my first exposure to communal living (other than a couple of weeks at Boy Scout camp) was in the Army. It was there in the barracks, spit shinning everything from helmet liners to floors, that we got to know each other, share stories, and commiserate over the challenges we suffered at the hands of our DIs. And I'm willing to bet that barracks have changed, just as dormitories have changed, with the times. Our grandfathers and fathers would most likely feel lost in our barracks just as we would be lost in the barracks of our sons and daughters. Or, maybe not so much...