Wheaton

Wheaton College, in Norton, MA, will soon allow students to room together regardless of gender!  Wheaton’s Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students, Lee Williams approved the proposal on November 2, 2009.  Gender-neutral rooming at Wheaton will be a campus-wide option, excluding the same-sex dorms/halls, which is expected to go into effect spring 2010 for current students and in fall 2010 for incoming students.

Under the new policy, sophomores, juniors, and seniors will continue to be able to choose the person with whom they wish to room, but gender will no longer be a limiting factor.  Information on gender-neutral rooming will be included in the mailings sent out to first-year and transfer students during the room selection process, which will invite them to express their preference for a gender-neutral room on their housing questionnaire.  Students will not be required to “justify” or explain their roommate preferences.  This means that students who are transgender, intersex, or otherwise do not identify within the gender binary, will no longer have to decide between concealing their identity or “out-ing” themselves in order to have a rooming situation with which they are comfortable.

Since releasing the first version of their proposal in April 2009, the authors of the proposal have engaged Wheaton’s Student Government Association (SGA), administrators, and the campus community on this issue, to make sure that people were informed and able to ask questions and share their views.  The response has been very positive!  On April 14, 2009, Wheaton’s SGA voted unanimously to support the proposal.  The Wheaton SGA voted to endorse the approved version on November 3, 2009.

Gabe Amo, a senior and President of the SGA, has been an active advocate of the proposal from early on.  Amo explains: “This proposal demonstrates that the power, passion, and commitment of students can produce incredible rewards.  I’m so proud of my fellow students who have really helped to make the Wheaton Community as inclusive as our mission states. If the life of a student can be improved in a true recognition of one’s identity, regardless of sexual orientation or any other difference, then a college is doing its job. Today, because of the hard work of a dedicated group, Wheaton is a much better place to be for all.”

Eric Eid-Reiner, a junior and former Vice President of The Alliance at Wheaton (the campus LGBTIQSA group), spearheaded the effort to get gender-neutral rooming at Wheaton and was one of the authors of the proposal.  A group of twelve students are credited as authors, and many others contributed to the proposal’s success through their interest, collaboration, and advocacy.

At the November 3 SGA meeting, Eid-Reiner said: “After more than a year of brainstorming, editing, writing, meeting, discussing, and more discussing, we have a proposal that we should all be proud of — that really accomplishes our goal of a more equitable housing policy.  Our new housing policy reflects Wheaton’s commitment to being an inclusive living and learning environment, and our Core Values of being ‘rooted in tradition, growing into the future,’ and being a community that is ‘committed to gender equality.’”

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