# Sitting in a college cafeteria and... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 3, 2012, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-in-a-college-cafeteria-and/608304 "2012-01-03T22:38:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-in-a-college-cafeteria-and/608304/21 "2012-01-04T16:22:43Z")
I lived in a mixed-sex dorm and the dining hall tables were also mixed. I remember sitting with the people from my floor (lots of guys) quite a bit, or people from other areas, but I don’t remember tables being segregated by gender. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-in-a-college-cafeteria-and/608304/22 "2012-01-04T16:36:41Z")
I went to a huge Midwestern university, and stayed in a coed dorm (common “den”/TV room between the gender-separated wings). There was still some gender division to some extent; I think there were some “us vs. them” sorts of feelings going on. I spent a fair amount of time in the guy’s wing of my floor as I’d made some friends there (having “geeky” interests like video games and D&D didn’t hurt), and one of my female floor-mates asked if I was a lesbian because I was spending so much time with the guys. Um… no? (This was especially funny because I was having sex with one of those new male friends.) ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-in-a-college-cafeteria-and/608304/23 "2012-01-04T20:05:56Z")
So…nooooobody else sat alone and read the paper/did the crossword? Just me? Ok… ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Minnie\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Minnie\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Minnie_Luna)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-in-a-college-cafeteria-and/608304/24 "2012-01-04T21:22:57Z")
I went to an East Coast State School. The only notable things I remember from our dining halls were that the sports teams and fraternity and sorority groups tended to sit together. Other than that, it was pretty mixed. The main cafeteria had lots of long tables and fewer small tables and booths. We had three smaller cafe’s scattered across campus with small tables. I got lucky in that a girl I met the first day of school that lived on my floor was dating a guy on the hockey team, so we ate with them more often than not that first year. By the second year, I was dating a guy in a fraternity, so I sat at that table with him and his friends. After two years, I moved off campus and used the cafe if I ate on campus. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-in-a-college-cafeteria-and/608304/25 "2012-01-05T12:06:31Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > Once you realize that girls fart and crack bad puns and listen to crappy music and are all around human, you may find that “women” are not actually just interchangable walking warm vaginas. They’re people you could get to know. That stuff you described isn’t sweetening the deal. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-in-a-college-cafeteria-and/608304/26 "2012-01-05T12:27:49Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > So…nooooobody else sat alone and read the paper/did the crossword? Just me? > > Ok… ☹ Hey, it wasn’t that common for me to actually have lunch with friends unless I was done with classes that day. Otherwise it was grab-n-go. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-in-a-college-cafeteria-and/608304/27 "2012-01-05T14:09:24Z")
We had fraternity and sorority tables, so I sat at my sorority table. They were firmly established. Even if you were dating a fraternity guy, you would not sit at his table. It was Not Done. Stopping by a fraternity table to sell raffle tickets or distribute party flyers was cool; stopping to ask your boyfriend a question was pretty brazen. It was Not Done. Sit at your own table, woman. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-in-a-college-cafeteria-and/608304/28 "2012-01-05T15:35:26Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > That stuff you described isn’t sweetening the deal. This is **PSXer** we’re talking about. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-in-a-college-cafeteria-and/608304/29 "2012-01-05T17:29:24Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > When I went to college in the 80’s, I sat with a mixed group. I met my husband in the cafeteria this way. We’re still together. He’s another Doper. (Let’s see if he sees this thread!) Is he also a Vorkosiverse fan? I met mrAru gaming at Campaign Headquarters in Norfolk VA. maybe 10% of the people gaming any given weekend might be female. I was the only female sitting at our table for 2 years of regular gaming. I always preferred dating military guys. If they do something bad you can grass on them to their command, can’t do that with a civilian unless it is actually criminal. [Back in the 80s violence towards females tended to get ignored unless it landed you in the hospital. Unless he was military, the command would land on the guy like a ton of bricks.] ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-in-a-college-cafeteria-and/608304/30 "2012-01-05T19:09:35Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Is he also a Vorkosiverse fan? Very much so. He told me that he’s seen this thread and is planning on saying, “Hi, honey” when he has time. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-in-a-college-cafeteria-and/608304/31 "2012-01-05T19:23:00Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > We had fraternity and sorority tables, so I sat at my sorority table. They were firmly established. Even if you were dating a fraternity guy, you would not sit at his table. It was Not Done. Stopping by a fraternity table to sell raffle tickets or distribute party flyers was cool; stopping to ask your boyfriend a question was pretty brazen. It was Not Done. Sit at your own table, woman. We had our own fraternity tables too. They were in our big mansion-like fraternity house on a gated hill separating us from the rest of the campus where our meals were cooked by a hired chef\*. What’s the point of going Greek if you still have to eat dining hall food with the GDI peasents? \*It sounds a lot more fancy that it really was. Our particular house was unfortunately in the newer architectural style that more closely resembled a dorm / Motel Six than the classic Animal House mansions. And our chefs tended to be a revolving door of ex-cons and other weird dudes. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-in-a-college-cafeteria-and/608304/32 "2012-01-05T23:49:09Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > Very much so. He told me that he’s seen this thread and is planning on saying, “Hi, honey” when he has time. Hi, honey. In fact, I introduced you to the stories of Miles Vorkosigan and associates… ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-in-a-college-cafeteria-and/608304/33 "2012-01-06T01:07:00Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Hi, honey. In fact, I introduced you to the stories of Miles Vorkosigan and associates… You guys on Lois’ email list? ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-in-a-college-cafeteria-and/608304/34 "2012-01-06T03:00:09Z")
If you rounded up every girl at my college, you could fill one lunch table. There were onlt about four or five tables total, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2012, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-in-a-college-cafeteria-and/608304/35 "2012-01-07T21:49:44Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > You guys on Lois’ email list? Actually, no. Been thinking of signing up, but I’m already on a few pretty active email lists. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2012, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-in-a-college-cafeteria-and/608304/36 "2012-01-07T22:48:13Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Actually, no. Been thinking of signing up, but I’m already on a few pretty active email lists. Yep it can get pretty busy, I have seen weekends with over 200 posts, but you can filter out threads you don’t want to red, we are pretty stringent with proper tagging of subject lines. Though Lois does participate quite actively =) Can’t say that about a lot of artists email communities 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-in-a-college-cafeteria-and/608304/37 "2012-01-10T14:28:13Z")
When I was in University (Illinois Inst. of Tech, '93-'97), my dorm was co-ed. Cafeteria seating was gender-mixed, but racially self-segregated. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-in-a-college-cafeteria-and/608304.md?page=1)