Mixed-gender housing policy a welcome addition
Last February, Student Union passed a resolution supporting the option of mixed-gender housing. Student Union had hoped its resolution would go into effect in the fall of 2008, and we have recently learned from the administration that mixed-gender housing will indeed be an option for students next fall.
Upperclassmen living in the Village and Greenway Place Apartments will have the option of living in gender-neutral housing. This option will not be available for freshmen. The University’s decision to implement mixed-gender housing demonstrates the administration’s faith in the student body and shows the University’s rejection of binary gender norms.
Getting the administration to implement mixed-gender housing has been a long and arduous process spanning several years. In December 2006, Student Life interviewed then-Associate Director of Residential Life Rob Wild. Wild informed us that students of opposite genders had been requesting to live together for the past 10 years and that transgender students had informed Residential Life that a mixed-gendered housing option would make them more comfortable. In response to these requests, Residential Life’s Room Selection Task Force committee considered the idea and recommended its implementation. At that time, the University rejected the proposal, telling Residential Life that it feared the student body would not get behind the resolution. To understand the opinion of the student body, Residential Life took a survey and found that 74 percent of students said they might take advantage of mixed-gender housing were the option available. Given these poll results and the Student Union resolution, it has been overwhelmingly clear that Washington University students support mixed-gender housing options. The University’s response to student input is gratifying.
The fact that the University has finally decided to implement such an option shows it has found the same faith in its student body that our peer institutions have been able to find in theirs. We understand that it would be difficult for Wash. U. to open up a policy that would allow heterosexual couples to live together. However, we feel that the University was correct in believing that students would make decisions about housing cautiously enough to fully consider the dangers of living with significant others. While some students will inevitably make poor choices in selecting their suitemates, these instances would not outweigh the benefits of allowing students to make better suitemate selections by choosing from both genders. We believe that Wash. U. students are just as mature as students at the University of Pennsylvania, Brown University, the University of Colorado, Haverford College, Oberlin, Sarah Lawrence College, Swarthmore and Wesleyan Colleges, Ithaca College, the University of San Francisco, Tufts University and Cornell University and are excited to be able to join these progressive schools in allowing mixed-gender housing.
It is important for Washington University to take a leading role in this issue. As a progressive school, Wash. U. should be at the forefront of policies that promote equality. Wash. U. has finally supported the teachings of its own Women and Gender Studies department and rejected the assumption that sex and gender are binaries and that one’s biological sex determines one’s gender. It has affirmed that sexual relationships do not only exist between parties of the opposite sex and finally recognized the identities of its transgendered students as legitimate.
We applaud the administration for its decision to embrace mixed-gender housing. We are pleased the administration is listening to its students and placing its faith in their maturity and are thankful to have an administration that prioritizes equality. Even protecting equality requires a difficult policy decision. We are proud to attend a university that is willing to make that difficult decision. Thank you, Wash. U.
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