Good job, Residential Life. We give that office a lot of grief in this space throughout a given school year, from criticizing its strange enforcement of alcohol policies to discussing problems with its placement of students. But much to our delight, Residential Life recently acted swiftly and decisively in enacting a new policy allowing for gender-neutral housing across all ResLife properties.

Previously, a gender-inclusive housing option was available only on the North Side, and last spring, four then-freshmen were denied a petition to live together in a suite on the South 40 this year. Despite receiving 37 signatures on a petition and letters of support from their resident advisers, the students were told that they could not be treated differently from other students.

In a staff editorial last spring, we wrote, “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.”

And going forward, any group wanting to live together, regardless of gender, won’t have to be treated like an exception. Associate Vice Chancellor for Students Rob Wild said that under the new policy, students will no longer need to submit a special petition for gender-inclusive housing consideration—like all other students, they will just need to indicate as much on a housing request form to be granted such an assignment.

Students should be allowed to live with whomever they want in a group that, per ResLife’s mission statement, provides a safe, comfortable living environment. The only students that this policy change affects are the ones who will utilize it, and with even incoming freshmen offered the gender-inclusive housing option, hopefully all ResLife occupants will be able to inhabit such a living and learning space.

The work on this matter isn’t entirely accomplished as, for instance, the software used for room assignments still must be recoded from its current state of gender binary. This concern was a central logistical worry when the four students were denied their petition last spring, so it seems a bit odd that the issue has been resolved without this practical concern being similarly accounted for—but hopefully ResLife will be as prompt in addressing it, as it was the broader issue of gender-inclusive housing on the 40.

When the four freshmen had their petition denied last spring, Dean of Students Justin Carroll expressed his hope that the disparity between North Side—where gender-inclusive housing has been in place since 2007—and South 40 housing would be fixed in the fall. At a university that can at times seem to enact policy change at a glacial pace, it is encouraging to see that Carroll’s goal was met.

Offering a gender-inclusive housing option to all undergraduates living in ResLife is a simple step, but it shows a much greater appreciation for and understanding of changing attitudes toward gender. Not all of Washington University’s peer institutions allow for such housing and doing so here will help foster a more inclusive community throughout campus.