2010 has seen tremendous success for gender-neutral campus initiatives. Catalyzed by front-page coverage in the LA Times, Boston Globe, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and other major media outlets, grassroots campaigns continue to grow nationwide. Over 50 colleges and universities now offer some form of gender-neutral rooming, and thanks to the pressure of student activists and the media coverage they’ve generated, schools like Goucher, Emerson, and Syracuse have joined the ranks, and a host of others — including Washington University in St. Louis, Grinnell, and Stanford — have expanded their previously successful pilot programs. Moreover, the range of institutions considering inclusive policy continues to broaden, as student leaders at William and Mary, the University of Oklahoma, and Duke are now rallying for policy change.

View our just-launched 2010 Campus Equality Index for a detailed progress update. This new report identifies 54 colleges and universities with inclusive policies, includes brief policy descriptions, and documents sources for further review.

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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The State University of New York (SUNY) at Geneseo has just announced a gender-neutral pilot program for one residence hall during the 2009-2010 academic year. This option will be available for this upcoming housing selection process. Now, students at SUNY Geneseo will be able to share bathrooms, common areas, and individual bedrooms. Previously, mixed-gender living arrangements were only available in apartment-style housing. Dean of Residential Living Celia Easton told The Lamron that the pilot serves two goals: “To provide a living space for friends to share regardless of gender and to adequately accommodate students whose gender identity does not correspond with a conventional label.”

SUNY Geneseo is part of the 64-campus state university system of New York. The largest comprehensive system of universities and colleges in the country, SUNY has nearly 400,000 undergraduate students. NSGC has been proud to work with several campuses within the SUNY system. Geneseo is the first SUNY campus to allow students to share the same individual room assignment. The editorial board of The Lamron said, “the policy is just the latest progressive measure in a long line of social improvements that began in the ’60s with civil rights and have been carried into the new millennium.”

The National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force have teamed up to collect data on discrimination against trans people in housing, employment, public accommodations, healthcare, education, family life and criminal justice.

In the wake of several murders of non-conforming youth in 2008 and the continued legislative efforts to pass a federal non-discrimination bill that includes gender-identity and expression, the two groups have collaborated with Pennsylvania State University’s Center for the Study of Higher Education to collect and analyze data. The survey will be helpful in developing better policies and practices for many areas of life. 

If you identify as gender non-conforming, transgender, or gender queer, take the survey!