The College Fix

Forty years ago, the transition to coed residence halls sparked controversy. Now, however, with schools like Stanford making the transition to gender-neutral dormitories, the controversy has largely been absent.

Stanford University adopted gender-neutral housing in 2008 after student activists, specifically from the LGBTQ community, called for alternative rooming options. According to Stanford Housing’s website, the new policy was implemented in “an effort to find better ways of supporting transgender students.”

Stanford senior Christopher Bautista, an open member of the queer community and previous gender-neutral housing resident, said that he “can see [same-sex housing] causing a lot of anxiety in gender queer people.” He finds the new gender-neutral housing to be “a very comforting option.”

Others, however, have raised complaints about the concept.

“This is just part of the next logical step in a university project that is designed to cause students to rethink essentially everything they knew about sex and gender,” said David French, the director of the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative Christian organization.

The movement began at smaller liberal arts colleges, but in 2005, the University of Pennsylvania adopted gender-neutral housing as well. In just five years, the rest of the Ivy League and another 40 other schools have followed suit, thanks in large part to the National Student Genderblind Campaign. The group has campaigned for gender-neutral housing and more relaxed policies because, according to their website, “traditional policies are premised upon outdated beliefs and stereotypes about gender and sexuality.”

“The university culture seems to be engaged in a long term project to try to encourage students to think that gender is something that is completely and utterly [as] malleable as sexuality, and gender neutral housing is a logical part of what seems to be that effort,” French said.

The Stanford housing website explicitly outlines that gender-neutral housing “is not [sic] intended for romantic couples.” As of now, seven campus residences of a possible 67 Stanford-sponsored properties host the program. According to the Los Angeles Times, some estimate only 1 percent to 3 percent of students living on campus actually choose a roommate of the opposite gender when such programs are available.

Although the gender-neutral housing was originally intended for members of the LGBTQ community, some students say they’re more comfortable living with a friend who is of a different gender.

Dean of Residential Education Deborah Golder said most of the conversations she has with students regarding this issue all sound very similar. According to Golder, students have often told her: “That’s the person who I connect with most…. Why shouldn’t I have the opportunity to live with that person?”

French worries about any mixture of genders.

“We’re probably going to see an increase in complaints of sexual assault and sexual harassment,” he said. “We pretty much know what happens, the closer you mix the sexes.”

Stanford’s program has not had any incidents of sexual assault or sexual harassment. There has been one minor controversy — from a parent.

In 2009, then-senior Daisy Morin lived in a Columbae quad with two male roommates and one female roommate. Morin’s mother, Karin, was outraged when she found out her daughter was placed in a coed room without specifically requesting one.

Karin Morin wrote to the president of Stanford to rectify the situation. Housing contacted Daisy inquiring whether she would like to change rooms, but she declined. Karin Morin, however, continued her fight by writing a letter to the National Review, in which she attributed the blame to Stanford. She refused to pay for her daughter’s final quarter of schooling, thus forcing her daughter to take out a $3,000 loan to finish her senior year.

“That was a family issue, and should be worked out at the family level,” said Golder, responding to the conflict. “I don’t think the university should be stepping in the middle of that.”

The university’s program considers gender-neutral housing an option for students. When setting up gender-neutral configurations at Stanford, students choose with whom they would like to live, and both parties give consent before living arrangements are finalized.

“It’s a system that you opt into, and if you don’t want to opt into it, then don’t opt into it,” Bautista said.

In order to minimize conflict, though, Stanford students involved in romantic relationships are discouraged from rooming together.

“I knew several people who lived with their boyfriends and girlfriends and it didn’t end well,” said Bautista.

Golder said, however, that any negatives associations with gender-neutral housing were no more than with any other residence. “Any potential outcomes are outcomes in any of our residential environments,” she said.

Robert Burns is a staff writer for the Stanford Review. He is a contributor to the Student Free Press Association.

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