Archive for March, 2007

Web Update: March 25, 2007 – Last week, the National Student Genderblind Campaign was featured on the nationally syndicated program, Here and Now, on National Public Radio. NSGC co-founder and associate director, Jeffrey Chang, spoke about his efforts at his own Clark University and the broader movement nationwide. The program also featured Steve Watter, Senior Associate Dean and Dean of Student Life at Haverford College, a Quaker-affiliated institution that provides gender-neutral rooming options.

“Creating dialogue and expanding the conversation is of the utmost importance,” said Jeffrey Chang. “This piece has allowed thousands of others to become cognizant of the injustice right before our eyes.” With growing media attention, the National Student Genderblind Campaign eagerly awaits another segment set to air on NPR.

Web Update: March 15, 2007 – Last month, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, and Carnegie Mellon University publicly announced that they would join the growing number of schools that provide students options to live in safer, more comfortably, more appropriate living arrangements.Unlike other schools with inclusive policies, Harvard will only allow students identifying as “transgender” to have a gender-neutral rooming option. While NSGC applauds Harvard for this step forward, all students should be afforded the right to live with whom they feel most comfortable. Never should a student be forced to disclose information of such personal nature – transgender status – to be eligible for such an option. Critiquing these and other serious limitations, the staff of the Harvard Crimson endorsed gender-neutral options for all Harvard students.

As Dartmouth, Harvard, and other main-stream institutions now enact more inclusive dormitory options, countless more will readily follow. Administrators across the country should follow the lead and reexamine the outdated rational behind discriminatory rooming policy.

Campaigns for inclusive policies continue to progress at Muhlenberg College, University of Chicago, and much further beyond.

< view Crimson editorial >