Effects of Athletic Dorms

The 1991 NCAA survey on athlete-only dorms concluded that athlete-only dorms supported sentiments of isolation (Bedell, 1997). Holstein, Jones, and Koonce’s book, Is There Life After Football?: Surviving the NFL explores several stories of ex-NFL players and their personal football journey. A portion of the book analyzes the ex-players’ experiences living in athlete-only dorms in the seventies and eighties. The authors described dorm life as, “A cradle of camaraderie and a shelter from outside aggravation… , an isolated hangout for bad habits” (Koonce, Holstein and Jones, 2014) Separated from the general student population, athletes are not well integrated into campus life. 

Holstein, Jones, and Koonce suggested that athletes tended to stay to themselves, simulating virtual ‘islands of homogeneity,’ and sometimes fail to grow into well-rounded students (Koonce, Holstein and Jones, 2014). This hyper-masculine culture rooted in isolation enabled aggressive and violent tendencies. For example, in September of 1986, 14 police units were summoned to Foster Hall, the football dorm at the University of Miami because approximately forty players engaged in what police reports called a “brawl” or “riot.” However, this was not the first violent incident at the University of Miami, in 1985, police arrested Hurricane players at the dorm seven times for charges ranging from trespassing to arson (Koonce, Holstein and Jones, 2014). These events were not the first instances of illegal activity in athlete-only dorms but a mere nationwide trend.