Several major colleges adopt gender-neutral housing

4/14/08Prompted by student activists, more than 30 college campuses in the United States introduced gender-neutral housing, (GNH) a housing option that has no restrictions about the gender of roommates. Meaning that a male and a female student can jointly choose to live together in a double room.

Bennington, Brown, Colorado College, University of California/Riverside, Guilford, Hampshire, Haverford, Humboldt State University, Lewis and Clark, Lawrence University, Oberlin, University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, Sarah Lawrence, Swarthmore, University of Southern Maine and Wesleyan are only some of the colleges that have adopted the policy.

Clark, which is in Worcester, Mass., and Dartmouth in neighboring New Hampshire both introduced the policy a year ago, while other schools, like Brown have recently announced their decision to join the trend.

Most colleges attempt to discourage students who are romantically involved from sharing a room on campus. While technically male and female couples would now be permitted to live together, it seems that straight couples choosing to live in gender-neutral housing is rare.

Some students in the Emerson community would be interested in having the option and the proposal has been brought before Emerson's Office of Housing and Residence Life by a few students and will be reviewed in the future.

David Haden, Director of Housing and Residence Life at Emerson College, says, "A very real perception that all schools contemplating GNH must consider is how such a decision will impact the school in terms of recruitment and retention of students." He said that administrators from other schools told him, "one of their biggest concerns is how parents will react to GNH. Some of my colleagues have expressed that it is one of the problems they have encountered when moving toward GNH. While I don't know of anyone who has done a formal study on the topic, I would guess that most parents would not be fully supportive of GNH."

Helen Levi, a junior at Oberlin College says, "I know several heterosexual couples who have taken advantage of it to live together in a dorm room. I live in an on-campus house of four people that is co-ed, it's nice, everyone seems to appreciate the option to mix genders." She said that "Oberlin is really into trans-rights, so I think the housing option came around to benefit students who were 'between' genders or just not sure of their gender. I think everyone should choose who they live with regardless of gender."

Most colleges have made gender-neutral housing available to upperclassmen only. Clark's policy reads, "different sexed roommates are never randomly assigned. Now, like any roommate request, Clark's Residential Life and Housing Office will only honor requests made by both parties mutually. Gender blind/neutral housing will be offered side by side to traditional housing in mixed class halls. This option is not available to first-year students."

Some colleges offer housing designated for homosexual, bisexual and transgender students, others allow male and female students to share suites and apartments but not rooms. However, all colleges that offer these solutions as well as gender-neutral housing also offer dormitories with different floors designated to a single gender.

Supporters say that gender-neutral housing is a step forward for transgender students or students in the process of discovering their gender identity. It is also a positive policy for gay or bisexual students, as well as students who simply feel uncomfortable living with members of the same sex. These supporters believe that the policy helps to create an environment that respects student diversity, according to Clark's website.

Ariel Arce, a junior at University of Michigan, said, "I think people should be able to live with whoever they want, it really isn't a big deal."

Some parents say that gender-neutral housing promotes promiscuity and provides students with unwanted distractions.