Incoming freshmen who ask for gender-neutral accommodation may be allowed to pair with a roommate of the opposite legal sex according to a new plan being proposed. The plan, developed after students from the trans/gender group met with Dean of the College Maria Cruz-Saco at the beginning of the semester, is a change from the current policy of placing students who ask for the gender-neutral accommodation in single rooms.
Before the start of the last school year, the Class of 2009 was given the opportunity to select to be housed irrespective of gender and to accompany the choice with an explanation in a textbox on the online form. Of the entire class, 15 students selected the option and 4 were determined by the Office of Residential Life (ResLife) to warrant a single.
“We considered [the other 11] as commentary and a critique of the current process,” said Dean of Student Services Mike Whaley. He said that the other 11 students were supportive of the option, but found not to require the housing selection.
According to Zach Strassburger ’06 and Beck Straley ’07, two members of the trans/gender group, which has been working on the development of the new plan, some of the students who were supposedly granted gender-neutral living were paired with roommates who did not state similar preferences.
“That was contrary to what we wanted and contrary to what [Vice President Peter] Patton had agreed,” said Strassburger. “When they cancel it in the summer, they’re not going through any process.”
The new plan has still not been fully developed or finalized. After a meeting last week between students, Whaley, and Director of ResLife Fran Koerting, another meeting will be held next week to discuss other details, such as the language of the option. Koerting, who is hosting the meetings, declined to comment about the plan because it still has to go through the Undergraduate Residential Life Committee (URLC) and the Queer Task Force. She said she did not want either group to feel that the plan had already been finalized.
If approved by the URLC, the plan will be presented to the Student Life Committee (SLC) at the beginning of next semester for a decision on the plan’s adoption.
In order for the plan to go into effect, it will need the support of senior staff. According to Whaley, Cruz-Saco has been discussing the change with Patton and President Doug Bennet.
The original gender-neutral housing plan for the Class of 2008 was reversed after some students selected the gender neutral option without understanding what it was and called the University over the summer, surprised that they had a roommate of the opposite sex. The plan was also reversed because Bennet and Patton objected to the idea of having a broad policy allowing roommates of the opposite sex.
“In my conversations with President Bennet last spring, I never thought we were going to end up with men and women together in double rooms,” said Patton in an article in the Argus on Sept. 10, 2004. As a consequence of the reversal, students were re-assigned roommates during the summer.
The new plan, though permitting roommates of opposite legal sex, will be much more limited in scope.
“It’s not for the entire freshman class, it’s just for the few who choose this,” said URLC co-Chair Rafael Medrano ’06. Medrano said that this new plan is unlike the old one that was reversed.
“Everything is going to be case-by-case,” Medrano said. “Each application is going to be looked at by ResLife.”
Students who ResLife believes warrant gender-neutral housing status will be contacted by ResLife to discuss options for first-year housing.
“This will be an iterative process,” Whaley said.
Both Medrano and Strassburger said that it is important that the process to apply for gender-neutral accommodation not require students declare their gender identities to ResLife.
Whaley said that the online selection will look similar to the one from last year, but the information written in the textbox will be used to determine if the student wants a roommate.
Medrano said that students choosing gender-neutral accommodation would be given the opportunity to have a roommate and now be able to live at any dorm on campus. The four students in the Class of 2009 who were placed in singles were unable to live in Clark or the new Fauver Field dorms because they do not have single rooms.
“Most frosh do have roommates and it’s a lot cheaper to have a roommate,” Strassburger said, listing another reason in favor of the plan.
“It’s been a while and we keep having these discussions,” Strassburger said. “I’m excited, but I’m weary.”
Straley said that the plan has the support of ResLife and Cruz-Saco, adding that it is important that the future language make it clear that the policy is not just for transgendered students.
“We think that it is a step forward and meeting the needs of some of the members of our student body,” Whaley said. “We’re stuck in a good cycle of collecting information and using that to inform policy for the following year.”
Leave a Reply