Gender neutral housing comes to Bryant

Hall 17 will be the new home to gender neutral housing in the Fall of 2012.(Sara Elder)

Following in the footsteps of nearly 100* other schools in the United States (including all 8 Ivy League schools), Bryant University has decided to offer gender neutral housing as a limited option starting in the Fall 2012 semester. Gender neutral housing will allow students of different genders to share a dorm room.

Gender neutral housing is still controversial in universities across the country. Until the suicide of Tyler Clemente in late 2010, Rutgers University denied proposals for this type of housing several years in a row. Immediately after his death, the administration approved a pilot program for gender neutral housing during the 2011-2012 school year. Shortly after, Princeton and Yale University approved similar programs, making them the last two Ivies to do so.

Bryant’s initiative is beginning with as many as three suites in Hall 17. Residence Life Director John Denio says Hall 17 was chosen as a starting site because there are two bathrooms in each suite and that they “would let the students decide how to designate [them].” The suite locations will be chosen after giving squatters first choice. The housing process for these suites will be completed through a separate process than regular housing, but will also take place on the myBryant Housing Portal.

Students who would like to live in a gender neutral suite must be in full groups of 6 (to fill suites of 3 doubles in Hall 17) to apply. The application process will be similar to that of SAFE housing last semester. This is not being offered to first-year students, though options for seniors in townhouses are being considered for the future.

To be eligible, there must be a mix of different genders in the suite in some combination. Students who choose to participate in gender neutral housing will be expected to understand certain things. If a roommate conflict arises, it will be treated like any other roommate conflict, but if one or more party is forced to move out, ResLife cannot guarantee they will be placed in another gender neutral suite. More likely, they will be moved back into single-sex suites.

Residence Life’s John Denio says this is an important step for Bryant University because “it’s beneficial to the students to have a variety of different [housing] options…and it’s fulfilling a desire that students have expressed.” He wants to create more living-learning environments at Bryant University like many other schools are doing. Themed and special-interest housing is a way to do so.

“People think they go back to their residence halls, and the learning stops, but I think that couldn’t be less true formally or informally,” says Denio, who believes that gender neutral housing will be a learning experience for the entire community, not just the students who participate in the program.

A common criticism of gender neutral housing is that it allows couples to live together. The fact is same-sex couples can already do so under conventional housing policies. Despite this, most same-sex couples do not live together—they’re adults and understand the stresses that living together can put on a relationship. Heterosexual couples should be expected to act with the same maturity when choosing who to live with.

“Today’s college students, gay or straight, are more likely to have close friends of a different gender and this housing option is simply the next step in the evolution of college housing,” says Jeffrey Chang, co-founder and associate director of The National Student Genderblind Campaign, which was designed to promote gender equality of college campuses.

Bryant’s Andrea Bergeron ’14 agrees with Chang, “I don’t think it’s fair to prevent [opposite sex friends] from living together.” There’s a need in our community for this type of housing, whether for GLBTQ students or just students who want to live someplace they’re happy, which may or may not be with someone of the same gender.

Bergeron goes on to say, “It helps students figure out living situations they feel most comfortable in.” And in the end, that’s what gender neutral housing is about. College students will enter the real world eventually and will be able to live with whoever they want. Now’s the chance to teach them to choose wisely, but ultimately let them make their own decisions.

Openly gay student Jonathan De Costa ’12 says, “Gender neutral housing is a step towards making GLBTQ students feel like part of the community.” As a senior, he won’t be able to take advantage of the program, but was glad he could give others the chance to find a comfortable place to live.

Students will not be randomly paired with an opposite-gender roommate under any circumstance. So if you don’t like gender neutral housing—don’t participate in the program. Regardless, gender neutral housing has arrived.

Even if it only makes 1 student feel safer on campus, it’ll be worth it. Both gender neutral housing and the opening of our new GLBTQ Center are steps in the right direction and are helping pave the road to complete acceptance on Bryant’s campus. We’re not there yet, but this has gotten us closer.

(*Note: Conservative estimates of the number of schools with gender neutral housing options are around 50. Recent research puts it around 80, while some lists that are more liberal with their definitions of gender neutral housing put it at almost 150)