Rutgers University to Offer "Gender Neutral" Housing

[Acturus]

Sorry for the funky formatting. I pulled it off the printer-friendly page, and it was in columns.

This is an incredibly progressive move for an American University. Does anyone know if any other college in the US allows this?

http://abcnews.go.com/US/rutgers-uni...ry?id=13029051

Tyler Clementi's Suicide Prompts Rutgers to Offer Gender Neutral Housing
The Program Will Launch This Fall and Will Allow Students to Choose their Roommate's Gender

By EMILY FRIEDMAN
March 1, 2011

In reaction to the suicide of a gay student earlier
this year, Rutgers University has decided to let
students choose the gender of their dorm mates,
giving male and female students the option of living
together.

The school also said it will not allow parents to veto
their children's choices.

Rutgers, which is located in New Brunswick, N.J., will
launch the pilot program this fall, giving many of its
more than 42,000 undergraduate students the option
to decide whether they would like to live with a male
or a female student.

The policy is believed to have been born out of the
suicide of Tyler Clementi, a freshman who jumped off
the George Washington Bridge during the first weeks
of school after he was allegedly filmed during a
"sexual encounter" with another man by his roommate
who later posted the footage online.

more here...

Spoiler: show

Clementi's death sparked a nationwide debate over the
bullying of gay youth.

"This has been under discussion for a long time.
Many other universities around the country already
have gender neutral housing," said a statement from
the university.

"In the aftermath of the Clementi tragedy, members of
the university's LGBTQ community told the
administration that gender neutral housing would
help create an even more inclusive environment.
Since then, the university has been exploring this in
greater detail," said the statement.

Joan Carbone, the university's executive director of
residence life, told New Jersey's Star-Ledger that
students will not be asked about their sexual
orientation and will choose rooms just as they always
have - through a schoolwide lottery system.

The only difference will be that students will be able
to name a roommate of either sex on the application.
Additionally, students' parents will not be allowed to
veto students' request, Carbone told the newspaper.
First-year students will only be able to request a
roommate who is "supportive" of their sexual
preference, according to the paper.

Rutgers joins a handful of universities across the
nation that offer gender-neutral housing, according
to The National Student Genderblind Campaign, a
non-profit organization that advocates for students.

Among those schools that offer such housing are
Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., Ohio University and
the University of Michigan. The University of Arizona
is also considering a pilot program, according to the
organization.

Rachel Soltis, a junior at Rutgers, told ABC News that
the campus response to the new policy seems
overwhelmingly positive.

"It's a good thing that people can now be themselves,"
said Soltis. "Times are changing."

"I think that there are a lot of students who will
appreciate having the option [to choose the gender of
their roommate]," she said.


Suicide Prompts Rutgers to Allow Coed Dorm Mates

Questions arose after Clementi's suicide as to whether
the freshman had requested a room reassignment
from the university.

The New Jersey university was subpoenaed by the
Middlesex County prosecutor's office for e-mails
exchanged between the institution and Clementi
which may shed light on whether Clementi had
requested a room change prior to the videotaping
incident that was a precursor to his suicide, officials
told ABC News last fall.

A user on a gay website believed to be Clementi
mentioned on an online message board that he had
requested a new roommate after being spied on with a
video camera by his college roommate.

Two students, Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei, have been
charged with invasion of privacy for allegedly
streaming Clementi's sexual encounter with another
man.

Messages on social networking sites left by Ravi
suggest that he may have had an aversion to
Clementi's sexuality from the start of their freshman
year.

Ravi tweeted on Aug. 22, "Found out my roommate is
gay," according to Forbes.com, and then posted a link
to a gay men's website where Ravi said Clementi had
placed posts.

Gawker reported it was that same website, JustUsBoys,
that Clementi was believed to have turned to once he
found out that Ravi had secretly filmed Clementi's
sexual encounter with another man.

"So my question is what is next," the posted cti2mo,
believed to be Clementi, wrote on Sept. 21. "I could
just be more careful next time ... make sure to turn
the cam away."

And then, in the same post, "I'm kind pissed at him
(rightfully so I think, no?)"

A Twitter page that appears to have been operated by
Ravi but has since been taken offline shows messages
in which the accused student takes credit for the
alleged videotaping of Clementi.

Ravi apparently tweeted about his roommate on Sept.
19 before live streaming Clementi's sexual encounter,
writing, "Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I
went into Molly's room and turned on my webcam. I
saw him making out with a dude. Yay."

And two days later, another message went out to
Ravi's 148 Twitter followers: "Anyone with iChat, I
dare you to video chat me between the hours of 9:30
and 12. Yes it's happening again."

The next day, a chilling post from Clementi showed
up on his Facebook page. He wrote in a message
dated Sept. 22 at 8:42 p.m., "Jumping off the gw
bridge sorry."

Clementi's parents released a statement following
their son's death saying that they hope the tragedy
will "serve as a call for compassion, empathy and
human dignity."

"The outpouring of emotion and support from our
friends, community and family -- and from people
across the country -- has been humbling and deeply
moving," said Joe and Jane Clementi in the statement
issued by their lawyer. "We thank each of you from the
bottom of our hearts."

[Tyche]

Going to be awesome when a couple decides "Hey, let's live together" right out of highschool. Then discover how much they hate each other and are fucked for the remainder of the semester.

[Chun Liroy]

Because it's impossible to change dorm rooms halfway through the semester..

[antihero]

lol

[Tyche]

Outside of extreme circumstances (proof of theft, physical altercations, etc), we couldn't.

[Mertron]

i came as fast as i could

[Eaglestrike]

Outside of extreme circumstances (proof of theft, physical altercations, etc), we couldn't.

I had my first roommate move out to go somewhere else after about a month or two at my school. Got myself a dorm room all to myself for a couple months before they threw some other guy in with me. Dude was really weird, got me into FFXI and loved to fall out of his bed (he was top bunk).

[Ksandra]

here's to increase pregnancies when kids think dorm = house for a family.


I don't think this is the answer to the problem. He could just as easily gotten a homophobe female as a roommate just as much as a male one.

though in a way colleges don't have a good answer, because tolerance teaching should have happened for the students on an elementary school level to begin with.

[aurik]

here's to increase pregnancies when kids think dorm = house for a family.

Since when do college kids think before screwing?

(But you are right in that this is not a solution for a misunderstood problem)

[Ksandra]

Since when do college kids think before screwing?

(But you are right in that this is not a solution for a misunderstood problem)

you underestimate the female brain when it's ovulating.

Spoiler: show

j/k, I get what you mean, but ya, this is a bad idea for horny kids

[Demosthenes11]

i came as fast as i could

not sure this was intentional, but brilliant

[Saga]

Emerson College piloted a gender neutral housing option at the start of fall '10. I graduated in spring '10 so I didn't get to see the effects or anything, would've been interesting to see since I was an RA there and I'm sure it opened up a whole new dynamic for the room, the floor and the building community, but from my friends that I've talked with that are still there it really hasn't been a huge deal. There's not anything that's crazy different and there's not a ton more sex going on than there was before, just dudes and chicks living together.

Truthfully it's an option for transgender students to identify with whichever sex they want to identify with and live with someone accordingly, be it a member of the opposite sex or same sex.

[Julian]

Am I the only one who thinks this will just lead to a ton of straight guys wanting to room with girls, and girls still wanting to keep rooming with other girls?

I personally don't really care, I actually kind of hate women, so I wouldn't want to room with one <_< Unless, if I actually know her, and am good friends with her (not many at all), it could be kinda cool, I guess. idk, always lived in apartment style dorms here ;/

[kyod]

Maybe because I'm not hardcore conservative or from the bible belt that I don't see a problem with this. Yeah, maybe some couple thinks it's a great idea to live together, but who cares? I (straight male) lived with one of my friends (straight female) because we got along well and had the same ideas on cleanliness/guest rules and whatnot. We never fucked or had a relationship. I knew several people who lived with the opposite sex in off campus housing who weren't in relationships.

Why is gender-neutral housing a big deal again?

[zoobernut]

Maybe because I'm not hardcore conservative or from the bible belt that I don't see a problem with this. Yeah, maybe some couple thinks it's a great idea to live together, but who cares? I (straight male) lived with one of my friends (straight female) because we got along well and had the same ideas on cleanliness/guest rules and whatnot. We never fucked or had a relationship. I knew several people who lived with the opposite sex in off campus housing who weren't in relationships.

Why is gender-neutral housing a big deal again?

There is a big difference between sharing a house with someone and sharing a room with them. I don't think gender-neutral housing is a big deal but I thought I would point out that they are talking about dorm rooms, which are typically really small and offer no privacy at all. It is different in that sense than a male and a female living in the same house/apartment but having separate rooms.

[kyod]

There is a big difference between sharing a house with someone and sharing a room with them. I don't think gender-neutral housing is a big deal but I thought I would point out that they are talking about dorm rooms, which are typically really small and offer no privacy at all. It is different in that sense than a male and a female living in the same house/apartment but having separate rooms.

While we shared a 3 bedroom apt with another guy, I knew several who shared studio apartments and were opposite gender (straight male and female).

[zoobernut]

Again you are not looking at a comparable situation. Have you ever seen a college dorm room? Have you ever seen a studio apartment? Have you ever compared the square footage of the two? Not sure how it is at other colleges but at CalPoly there is a difference between an on campus apartment and the freshman dorms. In the freshman dorms the rooms are literally maybe 8x12 or so. Just enough room for two beds and two desks. Nothing else. A studio apartment is probably going to at least be large enough to put up temporary rice paper wall things that you get at Ikea to create partitions in a giant room.

Edit: Granted I don't know how big or small or the configuration of the dorm rooms at Rutgers but the dorm rooms I have seen at other colleges and have heard of from talking to friends never compare to studio apartments in any way.

[ZarakiKujata]

I've been in dorms with gender neutral bathrooms. UConn has a few gender neutral bathrooms as well in the Fag Cultural Center.. And I'm blanking on the school but theres a small liberal arts college in New England that has had gender neutral housing for this reason for awhile, the only reason this should in any way be noteworthy is because this is a state school and as such is subject to political pressures.

[Restrat]

Many high end private universities have some sort of this now. At my school, which has around 20% gay guys, when we approached the university about it and they brought up the couple concern we responded, well how many cases has housing had where same sex couples room together and it causes problems? Are you saying that straight students will make worse decisions? The answer was zero.
Gay and trans studetnt concerns are often cited but it's really about letting people choose to live with who they want in general.

[EternityEnd]

This has been done before. It's not going to be a big issue.