Author: Sarah Dunlap
The administration unexpectedly approved a pilot Gender Neutral Housing (GNH) project earlier this month, something Occidental’s Queer-Straight Alliance (QSA) has been actively advocating for the past three years. “I am shocked and delighted that this finally got approved. It seemed to come out of nowhere, when we were most disillusioned,” former QSA leader George Simpson (senior) said.
Institutions from around the country, including Wesleyan University and the University of Southern California, offer GNH, which houses students without regard to their biological gender. In the upcoming academic year, Occidental Housing Services will set aside one Norris quad for a pilot program, Dean of Students Barbara Avery said.
If deemed successful, the administration is likely to expand GNH in subsequent semesters. As it currently stands, a committee will select six or eight applicants for gender-neutral living-an option that will be unavailable to first-years. “We’re committed to doing it, but with any new program you need to make sure that you work out all of the glitches,” Avery said. “If it’s a success, we will continue. It depends on what the need is and what the request is.”
The administrative decision, which came during a lull in the struggle for GNH, surprised Simpson, Jon Goldman (junior) and Emme Geissal (sophomore), all former and current leaders of QSA. “I got this random e-mail that said ‘we have the green light for Gender Neutral Housing,’ and as far as I know, nothing’s been done this semester,” current QSA President Geissal said.
Goldman, last year’s QSA President, also indicated that the bulk of activism regarding this issue took place last year and that the organization’s leadership did not expect this sudden success. “Honestly, we were surprised when it was passed this year as nobody has really fought for it since last year that I know of,” Goldman said. “It sort of just came together. I guess we were heard last year, which is great.”
Simpson, though pleased with the recent progress, chided the administration for its original reluctance to implement GNH. “Every year as more and more schools adopt similar policies, it becomes increasingly embarrassing that Oxy’s administration has been dragging its feet on this issue,” Simpson said.
As of last year, the QSA was seeing few results from their fight for GNH. The administration expressed concern regarding possible student opposition and the necessity of different housing formats. However, there have been no student objectors, even at public forums, Simpson said. “The campus community had multiple opportunities, including public forums, to come forward and make objections, or even form a counter-movement. But they didn’t,” he said.
Judging by the accepting ethos that dominates the campus ideology, Avery said that she does not expect a significant amount of opposition. “I haven’t heard anything,” she said. “I assume that our students are pretty open, pretty understanding.” While Geissal does not anticipate widespread student protest, she worries that students will misappropriate the nature and larger goals of GNH.
“I do have a little bit of fear that the people who live there will be targeted. I have fear that people who don’t understand the purpose behind Gender Neutral Housing will call it the gay dorm, and they will mean that in a negative way,” she said. “This has nothing to do with sexuality, it has to do with gender and comfort level.”
Geissal stressed the scope of the project and recognized David Liss (senior) and Michael Kaiser-Nyman (junior) for their contributions. “Michael kept re-writing and re-writing and re-writing different drafts of the proposal to submit to the board. We just kept having meeting after meeting with different people. They kept asking for more detail,” she said. “Michael would go back and re-write it. They sort of attacked it from different angles, and we weren’t getting anywhere. Kecia Baker played the integral part in pushing this, and Dean Avery has been very cooperative.”
Director of Residence Life and Housing Services Kecia Baker approved GNH after working with students to revise the original proposal for GNH. A forum will be held Thursday, March 22 at 7:30 p.m. to discuss the issue further.
Advantages to this set-up include “creating a positive space for students to live,” Baker said. Moreover, she said she does not believe these changes will negatively affect any students and does not see any clear disadvantages.
“I really don’t see any disadvantages, but if for some reason it ends up not being positive for students I will be disappointed,” Baker said. “I want every student to have a positive living experience at Oxy.”
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