How America’s Biggest Student Co-Op Got a Sex Room

I did what any data analyst would do: conduct a survey

UC Berkeley campus at night. Photo: Silentfoto/Getty Images

I’ve heard that when you have a roommate, a sock on the doorknob is a common sign that you’re having sex inside the room. However, living in a 150-person undergraduate co-op, I had to use a more advanced strategy, involving research, spreadsheets, and debate. That’s right: Because of my roommate troubles, the largest student co-op in the United States got an organized, formally maintained sex room, and I’m going to tell you how it all went down.

The Cloyne Court Co-op at UC Berkeley.

The Cloyne Court Co-op at the University of California, Berkeley, sits on the north side of the university’s hill. It’s an attractive place to live, given that the rent for a shared room and full board at Cloyne Court is about 40% cheaper than neighboring private rooms. Such an endeavor also necessitates extreme organization: Each resident must work five hours a week—cooking, cleaning, distributing food, gardening, etc.—or risk being fined, and these “workshifts” are logged into a centralized website. Each resident also owes four hours of “home improvement” (HI) work every semester.