Archive for February, 2009

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!