Pitt students lobby for gender-neutral housing options

Counselors at summer camps have a saying: ‘The girls’ rooms are pink, the boys’ rooms are… Counselors at summer camps have a saying: ‘The girls’ rooms are pink, the boys’ rooms are blue, and no one should be making purple.’

Intermingling of the sexes might have been taboo back in the camp days of childhood, but in college, many students might find ‘purple’ housing more practical.

Pitt’s Rainbow Alliance, with help from members of the administration and faculty, has recently been part of a growing movement seeking gender-neutral accommodations for collegians.

Gender-neutral housing constitutes ‘providing the option for two students to live together ‘hellip; without restriction based on sex or gender’ and restrooms ‘that may be used by a person of any gender or sex,’ according to the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition’s Gender Equality National Index for Universities and Schools, or GENIUS index — a resource that ‘tracks and evaluates the efforts of schools to prohibit discrimination.’

According to the index, ‘One-third of college students report being harassed or discriminated against on campus for not fitting expectations of masculinity or femininity.”

The Coalition recognizes that student members of ethnic, racial and sexual minorities face a number of obstacles and says, ‘Protections for students who don’t fit expectations for masculinity or femininity are especially important.’

Rainbow Alliance President Aaron Arnold said, ‘Gender is something unique to a person ‘hellip; in that sense, it can create a lot of scary situations for people that do not wish to express their gender in the traditional binary.’

Fear of uncomfortable situations, coupled with compassion for those involved in them, has led many of the top colleges and universities across the country to reevaluate their policies regarding student housing.’

Of the nation’s top 25 universities, 17 have non-discrimination policies that are inclusive of ‘gender identity and expression,’ as well as ‘sexual orientation’ (of the two Pennsylvania schools on the list, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pennsylvania, only Penn had such a policy).

Seventeen of the 25 offered gender-neutral restrooms (CMU and Penn included), and six schools offered students a gender-neutral housing option — the ability to live in the same dormitory room with a member of the opposite sex. Again, both CMU and Penn were among those schools according to the index.

Also according to the index, Pitt has not implemented any of those policies, while other schools within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania — including Moravian, Muhlenberg, Peirce and Swarthmore colleges, as well as Bucknell, Lehigh and Penn State universities — have done so.

Arnold said, ‘Most schools [that have implemented such policies] tend to be smaller, more liberal arts schools with a progressive faculty.’ He added, however, that he is ‘not sure what will fly in this region.’

The Rainbow Alliance is, nonetheless, pleading the case to the University’s administration and Board of Trustees. They first brought the issue to the attention of Student Affairs three years ago, after noticing ‘a growth of the population for which a change would be needed,’ said Arnold.

Despite the amount of time that has elapsed since, Arnold said that the administration — especially Dean of Students Dr. Kathy Humphrey — has been supportive and actively involved in the issue.

That being said, the initiative is currently at a standstill awaiting a decision from the University’s board.

‘Everything we can do is exhausted until the Board of Trustees adds ‘gender identification and expression’ to its non-discrimination policies,’ said Arnold.

This is a difficult task, considering the amount of work that must go into the process.

‘There is a lot to be done,’ said Arnold. ‘[From a logistics standpoint], handbooks need to be changed, people need to be trained, et cetera.”

He added that the makeup of the Board of Trustees, with members ranging from University officials and prominent alumni, to members of the community and local political figures, adds yet another dimension to the already multi-faceted issue.

The first sign of progress will be the introduction of a multicultural floor instituted by ResLife whose population will span across gender, race, sexual orientation and other distinctions, said Arnold.

Some opponents of gender-neutral housing contend that such measures would open a loophole through which romantic couples would cohabitate in University buildings, break up — as young college couples are prone to do — and thus leave one of the students forced to transfer rooms mid-year/semester or suffer an uncomfortable living situation.

Likewise, Counseling Center Director James Cox points out the fact that if students ‘really want to live in a coed situation, they can get a house [after their freshman year].”

Further, Cox said that the University only houses 7,000 students, indicating the large percentage of students who commute or live in off-campus housing and thus already have the apartment autonomy that they’re after.

Jeffrey Chang, co-founder and associate director of the National Student Genderblind Campaign, agrees with the data but not with the assertion.

‘The number of students who ultimately decide to live with a member of a different gender in the same room is quite small — only about 2 percent of the entire student body,’ said Chang.

‘[However] allowing gender-neutral rooming provides options for all students and gives them the freedom to choose who they feel most comfortable with.”

Insofar as potential problems are concerned, Mr. Chang said, ‘College students know the dangers with rooming with their significant other, whether the couple is gay or straight. Under most status-quo, single-sex rooming options, gay couples are able to live together without any questions ‘hellip; College students are adults and, more often than not, make the right decisions for [themselves].’

Student reaction to the issue was mixed.

Pitt senior Will Vith admits that if given the choice, he would much prefer to have a bit of diversity in his dorm life.

‘My close-knit group of friends consists of both boys and girls ‘hellip; It would make me more comfortable to know that no matter who I am friends with, I have the option of living with them,’ he said.

Likewise, graduating senior from Pittsburgh Central Catholic High School Michael Cratsley said, ‘[If given the option] I would like to live with some girls that I am good friends with now, but if I was going to live with a stranger, I don’t think I would choose a girl ‘hellip; I’d be more comfortable [in that situation] living with a guy.’

Finally, Zoe Hayden, a graduating senior at Laurel Highlands High School, imparted a bit of advice to those who are, as are she and Cratsley, about to move off to college for the first time.

‘You should probably practice with people that you [were assigned to live with] to test your limits and learn how to live with others,’ said Hayden. ‘You wouldn’t want to lose your best friend or [significant other] just because you’re inexperienced and uncomfortable being on your own.’