Hall Residents Declare Truce to Battle of the Sexes

She was entering a door not open to her or any other female for more than 200 years.

That entrance symbolized the controversial end to the all-male tradition in Old East and Old West. And McKeithan said she is proud to be one of the first women to set her bags down, plop on the bed and call a room her own.

"I wish we could have had the chance to move in here earlier," the senior from Elizabethtown said.

Old East's cornerstone was laid October 12, 1793, making it the oldest structure of any public university in the country. It stood as the University's lone building for several years, serving as a classroom and residence hall.

McKeithan said she was ecstatic about "the chance to make history."

But she said that before she had even settled into the place she called "paradise," she saw something that reminded her of the contentious circumstances that preceded her arrival.

On one of her first days in the hall, a man walked by sporting an Old East T-shirt with the phrase: "These bricks weren't laid for chicks."

Enter Brandon Herring, the T-shirt's owner and model.

Herring, a two-year veteran of life on Old East hardwood, was yanked from temporary housing his freshman year and dropped into one of the most historic buildings on campus.

And at the end of Herring's sophomore year -- when a female presence in Old East was becoming a more likely proposition -- Old East residents adopted the provocative slogan for their annual residence hall T-shirt.

"It insulted me," said McKeithan, who thinks both sexes deserve to enjoy the buildings. "I think men and women should have the same privileges."

The halls are considered prime living quarters because of their proximity to both Franklin Street and main campus, hardwood floors and large rooms.

And here the battle of the sexes stood: The women wanted in on the historic and relatively lavish residence halls, but the men occupying them wanted to maintain their tightly knit communities and male havens.

Herring said if the Department of University Housing had booted his male buddies to make way for women, then he was against it. "We were really concerned about people being forced to move out."

And Herring said the reason some of the male residents were dead set against women moving into Old East or Old West had nothing to do with their rich tradition or room style.

It was more than that.

When the dialogue started about giving women space in the then all-male residence hall, Herring said, they were told it was because women didn't have an equivalent all-female residence hall on campus.

Herring said this wasn't a valid reason to him and the other male residents. "'The girls should have a nice dorm' wasn't a good reason," he said, quickly naming halls like McIver Residence Hall and Alderman Residence Hall as reputable residence halls housing only female occupants.

But the disagreement ran deeper.

Though the Residence Hall Association held discussions dealing with the issue, Herring said the forums dealt with how to make the transition easier, not with whether it should take place at all. "It was like they already made the decision," he said.

And this made some residents feel unappreciated, fueling the feud's fire a little more -- a battle that could have intensified when the women showed up to officially claim their space.

But on the day when upperclassmen were set to arrive, the new Old East women said things were fairly calm.

The tranquility was due to the logistics of the integration, during which no male residents were displaced from either residence hall.

"We were really concerned about people being forced to move out," Herring said. "Since that didn't happen, I think everybody's OK with it."

McKeithan noticed there wasn't much animosity in the air when she arrived. "Some of the guys were really helpful," she said.

And after the T-shirt incident, McKeithan and Herring again crossed paths on the first floor, both as witnesses and players in a historic change.

"It was more about who was here and how it would affect them," Herring explained.

And soon both Old East residents stood together. A guy. A girl.

Together in Old East.