You can do it off campus, but you can't do it on campus ... yet. The Department of Resident Life prohibits students from living on the campus with members of the opposite sex in dorms, suites or apartments. But that may change.

The Residence Halls Association recently sent a survey to on-campus students to gauge support for the possible creation of mixed-sex housing. The online survey asks for students' opinions on many aspects of living in mixed-sex situations, from potential benefits to the challenges of shared bathrooms.

Mixed-sex housing is a growing trend in universities across the country. Housing proposals have been made at universities such as Harvard, Swarthmore and the University of Pennsylvania.

Some students have taken matters into their own hands.

Justin Canning, a junior business major, lives off the campus in a five-bedroom house with four of his high school friends - two guys and two girls - and said the university should permit mixed-sex housing on the campus.

"If you have a group of all guys or all girls, they can tend to disagree. I think if you have guys and girls together, it can give you a chance to work things out better."

But Line Youdom, a junior economics and French major who lives off the campus with family, is adamantly opposed to mixed-sex housing on the campus, especially if it would be randomly assigned.

"Hell, no!" Youdom said. "It's hard enough when it's with girls you don't know. ... It's hard enough living with my brother."

Another commuter, who identified herself as "Stephanie," said shared bathrooms would cause too many problems.

Contact reporter Matthew Robertson at newsdesk@dbk.umd.edu.