SJSinNYC – “I still don’t know what coed functions lead to because I’ve been to many and nothing improper happened.”
I’m going to adresss this one point at a time:
“I still don’t know what coed functions lead to”
Let me spell this out for you: Boys and girls, when they get together, tend to form relationships that rarely end in marriage, but almost without exception leads to issurim.
“I’ve been to many and nothing improper happened.”
Well people aren’t going to do anything improper right in the middle of a public simcha now, are they?
oomis1105 – “”People wouldn’t go to a mixed college because of the stigma involved. “
There is only a stigma in the minds of some people because THEY stigmatize it. I have no problem with mixed colleges. Two of my children met their wonderful zivugim there, and I could not be happier. There was a time when there were no Touro Colleges with separate schedules, and all the frum kids went to Brooklyn or Queens College (otherwise to a branch of YU). They are the parents of the generation that now does NOT go to mixed college. Should anyone have a chashash on those parents? They seemed to turn out well religiously.”
Mixing colleges would indeed help make more shidduchim, and the products of the mixed colleges do indeed often “turn out well religiously”. Nobody is arguing that. However, mixing genders will definitely lead to one thing – aveiros. And short of pikuach nefushos, we cannot knowingly put ourselves on a course that will lead to aveiros, no matter what benefits it looks like it will bring to us in the future.
Oh, and a quick reminder – Hashem runs the world. He, and only He, controls how many shidduchim are made and how many are CH”V not. He does not need our help. Now obviously we have to do our hishtadlus, but only within the confines of following the ratzon Hashem. And I highly highly doubt that it is the ratzon Hashem that we go down a path that will lead to more aveiros being done.
Sister Bear – “The need for a mechitza is so the men don’t see the women by davening, right? Or is the issur that women aren’t allowed to be seen davening?
So if there is a mechitza, but one that the men could see right through and/or over then is one allowed to daven there? Is a women? Is a man?”
R’Moshe holds as long as there is a physical separation between the men and the women, davening is permitted. (However, a man cannot daven/learn/say a brachah when seeing an inappropriately dressed woman.)
SJSinNYC – “it would be nice to do away with the stigma of meeting someone on your own, especially if its through a kosher outlet”
Again, whether the outlet that a boy and girl meet through is kosher or not, once they meet they can have a relationship as unkosher as they want.
dunno – “I don’t know who you’re in contact with but I have spoken to many Touro students who would love for it to become mixed. The frummer ones tend to lean towards Sara Schenirer and Raizel Reit. I am not trying to push my hashkafos on anyone – I was involved in the Touro community and the general consensus was that it would be easier mixed.”
And if you took a poll whether the issur of negia should be suspended, I wouldn’t be too surprised if most people said yes. Just because something is popular doesn’t mean its right.
“[Frum colleges should be mixed] To provide singles with another means of making shidduchim.”
As gavra_at_work said, those who feel they need to be in a mixed college inn order to find a shidduch have plenty of options already. Also, as I pointed out to oomis1105 above in this comment, Hashem is the only One who makes shidduchim, and He does not need our help. We obviously still have to our hishtadlus, but we shouldn’t kid ourselves into thinking that it is all up to us, and therefore if we have to go down a path where aveiros will happen so be it. Our job is to do what Hashem tells us to do, and He will take care of the end results.