ResLife deserves more credit, but changes should be made

A month ago, four freshman students sent a proposal to the Office of Residential Life asking for gender-neutral housing on the South 40. Although their petition included letters of support from their resident advisors and many additional signatures, they were contacted Feb. 1 by Director of Housing Operations Tim Lempfert, who turned down the petition and wrote an explanation of ResLife’s decision. Since then, Lempfert’s decision has been attacked by some students as unfair, biased and unprogressive. While students seeking to live on the 40 should have the opportunity to extend their friendships to their housing plans regardless of gender, it would be rash to portray ResLIfe as a wholly non-progressive entity.

First, ResLife already features gender-neutral housing. Before looking at the details of this, it’s important to note that this option is not available at every university. Washington University students should remember that their access to this choice has been the work of ResLife and University administrators trying move the school in the fairest direction. While the 40 may not have options for gender-neutral housing, ResLife offers a broad range of options that include the Village BLOCs, on-campus apartments such as Village East and off-campus apartments.

It’s also important to note that Lempfert and ResLife took the time to consider these four students’ petition and provide a reasonable explanation. Lempfert’s response had no indication of him trying to pass off the situation. Lempfert also emphasized ResLife’s willingness to change its policy in the future and allow the 40 to become gender-neutral. That sort of flexibility is important and shows that ResLife does want to accommodate students’ desires. While it may seem odd that ResLife cannot change its policies immediately, students need to understand that issues like these require time because administrators need to make sure they’re making the best decision for not only the students but also for the University at large.

However, it would be unwise for ResLife to continue its current policy. Considering that no major issues have occurred with gender-neutral housing, there shouldn’t be any reason for it to not be expanded to all housing options. Telling sophomores who want to live in a gender-neutral environment that they cannot live with many of their friends on the 40 is damaging to the sophomore experience. More broadly, there is no reason that students should not to be able to live with the people they want to, especially after their first year on campus. ResLife may be unwilling to make an exception for one group of four freshmen, but there is no reason that those freshmen need to be an exception in the first place. While ResLife’s current policies seem to enforce a heteronormativity onto its students who wish to live on the 40, their progressive practices regarding other residential spaces hint at a willingness to adapt to a changing gender climate. Now the policies simply require one additional step forward.

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