SGA approves gender neutral housing bill

Back in the 1970s, when many of our parents were in college, a major controversy broke out on campuses nationwide. Male and female students were living in closer quarters than ever before, sharing dormitories.

While many expressed concerns about these unprecedented housing reforms, the uproar eventually died down and men and women are able to live in the same halls without a second thought.

In our parents’ day coed residence halls were new and progressive. Today, Middlebury is at the forefront of a new frontier in housing: gender-neutral dorms.

On Sunday night, first-year Senator Tony Huynh introduced a presentation that called on the SGA to support gender-neutral housing at Middlebury. The proposed initiative, entitled “The Rooming Choice Act” was co-written by Huynh, Elizabeth King ’13 and Joey Radu ’13. The three students explained that the goal of the proposal is to create “a better, more tolerant, open environment on campus.”

“The college is not treating people who are legally adults as adults and allowing them to choose with whom they think they would be most compatible living,” said King.

What does gender-neutral housing entail, you ask?

The SGA resolution advocates that “gender should play no role in housing for sophomores and above.” This means that all students, regardless of gender, would be free to live together in any of Middlebury’s housing options, including doubles. This is less of a change than one might think, however, as the “Principles of Residential Life” in the College Handbook already state that “every residential unit is open to all students without regard to race, sex, religion, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression or disability.”

Based on this language, it sounds as if Middlebury already has a policy of gender-neutrality.

Radu and King, both first-years in Atwater Commons, realized during spring room-draw that the college’s current policy of providing doubles to only same-gender roommates is not documented within the College Handbook.

They explained to the SGA that while applying for a two-room double in Coffrin, they were sent back and forth between various administrators and offices. There was no procedure in place to handle their request. Furthermore, no one immediately knew who had the final call on whether or not the pair could be roommates.

Their search for answers finally ended when Atwater Dean Scott Barnicle amended the Atwater Constitution to allow gender-neutrality in all two-room doubles. From there King and Radu decided to pursue a campus-wide policy change that would allow for gender-neutrality in all dorms, eliminating the system’s current vagueness once and for all.

The Rooming Choice Act calls upon the SGA to advocate for both a policy of complete gender-neutrality in all upperclassmen dorms and a search for a feasible option for gender-neutrality in first-year housing. While well over 50 colleges across the country have some form of gender-neutral housing, very few include the option for first-years. Two notable exceptions are Hampshire College and Skidmore College.

Radu, King and Huynh chose to focus on solely upperclassmen in this initiative due to the added difficulty of neutralizing first-year housing. Since first-years do not choose their roommates, finding an adequate solution will prove more complicated.

Nevertheless, they expressed their clear dissatisfaction with a housing system that ignores the discomfort first-years may feel when placed with a roommate of the same gender.

“Whose comfort are we valuing when we room a gay man with a straight man?” said Radu.

The SGA resolution calls for Middlebury to make every effort to create “a supportive environment for all students, regardless of identity as transgender or queer.”

A housing system that assumes all students would feel most comfortable rooming with someone of the same gender ignores the presence of the queer community.

Encompassing gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and other groups that do not identify as strictly heterosexual and “male” or “female,” many members of the queer community would in fact feel more comfortable rooming with someone of different gender.

“You get to choose who you live with — it’s a comfort thing,” said Huynh of the initiative.

The presenters addressed several common concerns with gender-neutral housing. While many skeptics immediately expressed concerns with a system that would allow heterosexual couples to room together, Radu and King emphasized that this has not been a problem on any of the campuses that have implemented gender-neutral housing. They reminded their audience that homosexual couples are in fact allowed to live together under the current system. The presenters also advocated that gender-neutrality be implemented in all upperclassmen dorms, as opposed to a select few.

“It’s isolating individuals who do want to live in a gender-neutral room, which isn’t really what the point of this policy change would be,” said King of confining gender-neutrality to certain spaces.

Ultimately, the SGA passed the resolution with a unanimous vote. With the support of the most prominent student organization on campus, The Rooming Choice Act stands a much better chance of being passed by the administration next fall. Should Middlebury embrace gender-neutrality in housing, students can expect the option by room draw next spring.