But proposals to allow gender-blind housing - which would allow a male and a female to live together in a double - will be discussed more before a decision is made, to the dismay of some students in the five-member working group. The group has been meeting in various forms for several years - and has met four times this semester - to propose these changes.
Beyond single restrooms and those in suites, which are already gender-neutral, residential life officials may designate a number of larger dormitory restrooms as mixed-gender. How many might become mixed-use will depend on the gender makeup of dorm populations, which will be known and should remain fairly stable after the housing lottery this week. Signs on gender-neutral restrooms will not have an image of a male or female.
Before any decision is finalized, University officials will survey the residential population to determine how supportive students are of designating some bathrooms as gender-neutral, said Russell Carey '91 MA'06, interim vice president for campus life and student services.
"We have to look at this very carefully and do a more systematic job of collecting input than the working group has had the resources to do, because this is a significant change," Carey said.
The specifics of the more extensive gender sensitivity training for RPLs are still being worked out, but Carey said the commitment to devote more time and resources to that aspect of training has been made for next fall.
"We're expanding this part of training to bring in more resources from the area to address broader gender issues," said Richard Bova, senior associate dean of residential life.
"Being able to have people get a greater understanding of gender issues is important for the community," Carey said.
Because RPLs help set "community standards," the extra training will prepare them to guide students in conversations about the implementation of gender-neutral bathrooms and other housing options, said Margaret Klawunn, associate vice president for campus life and dean of student life.
The student working group spent about 40 hours studying bathrooms on campus and recommended that 102 multiple-person dorm bathrooms be designated as gender-neutral, according to Robin Peckham '10, who was on the working group.
"We visualized from the perspective of every single dorm room on campus that you wanted to have a male, a female and a gender-neutral bathroom either on your hallway or directly up or down right by the stairs, so that everybody has the proper bathroom right there," Peckham said.
Peckham was one of several students who protested the lack of gender-neutral bathrooms last semester. In terms of policy, she said she thought students and University officials have been extremely productive since then.
The group also recommended that ResLife allow incoming first-years to request that they be assigned housing without regard to gender, effectively making it possible for male and female first-years to live together in a double. Additionally, it suggested that upperclassmen be allowed to choose housing in the lottery without regard to gender. Currently, there are some gender-neutral dorms, such as Graduate Center, but the working group's recommendation would allow a male and a female to go into a double together.
"The current housing policy is incredibly hetero-normative and doesn't think about students who don't fit into the gender binary," said Residential Council Chair Justin Glavis-Bloom '07. "Besides, most college students are smart enough not to room with their significant other."
Peckham said at least a dozen colleges have gender-neutral housing for upperclassmen though none of them are peer institutions, "which is what really matters."
Klawunn noted that very few schools have gender-blind housing for first-years. "We're willing to be an institution to look at this ahead of the curve, but that's an area very few schools have taken on," she said, adding that changes over the last several years have been made to accommodate students with special housing needs.
Peckham said she and other students met with Bova and Glavis-Bloom in early March to determine whether the policies seemed reasonable and felt their proposal would receive a favorable response.
But Peckham and Glavis-Bloom told The Herald they were upset at the University's response when the working group eventually proposed their policies to Carey in mid-March. Carey supported further RPL training and was open to gender-neutral bathrooms, but he thought 102 bathrooms designated as gender-neutral would be too many, Peckham said.
Carey also told the working group that the idea of a gender-blind housing policy would have to be considered further by various University committees.
"We said this in a meeting that we had with students a couple of weeks ago involved in this working group, that it would have to go through a number of established University governance processes and decision-making, that it's a significant policy change that would require further discussion and thought," Carey said.
"I think sending this issue to a committee is a good way to kill a proposal," Glavis-Bloom said. "I was not happy - I was very disappointed to find out Russell Carey had said no to these changes."
"He essentially killed that proposal," Peckham said. "Just talking with other students, it feels like Russell Carey is doubting the maturity of people to live with someone of the opposite gender. Because at that point, you're not just living with someone - you're picking who your roommate is."
Referring to the interim status of Carey's position, Peckham added, "He's basically dealing with trying to get that job right now, so he isn't really concerned with satisfying the minority position at all and has no reason to. Before that one meeting, we were under the impression he was much more amenable to this kind of thing than the administration had been in the past."
Bova, who has been involved with gender-neutral housing issues for a number of years, disagreed that further discussion is a method of killing the proposal. "As a comprehensive institution with folks with all different opinions, this is the proper route to take," he said. "All students (should) have the opportunity to look at this issue and look at it critically and to vet it in a robust and appropriate but amicable way that allows us to decide what's the best direction for us to take."
Kelly Garrett, coordinator of the LGBTQ resource center, will lead a task force within the Diversity Advisory Board that will begin addressing housing issues next semester, Carey said. He stressed the importance of patience. "No decision has been made, and it's going to take some time for this to wend its way through the governance process."
Both Glavis-Bloom and Peckham told The Herald they were under the impression that concern about a potential alumni reaction to gender-blind housing kept their proposals from being implemented more quickly.
Referring to efforts several years ago to offer more gender-neutral housing options, Glavis-Bloom told The Herald, "Last time, this maybe wasn't explained to alumni in the best way. Their minds immediately went to boys and girls living together, but that's not what this is about," he said. "It's about the current policy being discriminatory."
"I can't speculate about alumni or parent or student reaction, which is the reason we're sending these policy proposals through the University governance process," Carey said.
But Peckham told The Herald that in the working group's March meeting, Carey indicated alums and Corporation members might react poorly to a policy allowing gender-blind cohabitation. "The fact of the matter is that if we have (Carey's) approval, we can get through these other channels," she said.
