The Office of Residential Life will offer "gender-neutral" housing - housing that will allow students of the opposite sex to live together - beginning in the 2007 Fall term. The housing option will be available on the programming floor of McLane Hall, as well as in various rooms in Thomas Hall, the East Wheelock and Fahey-McLane residential clusters and the Maxwell and Channing Cox apartments.
Initially, ORL focused on the McLane programing floor, which will offer two-room doubles to gender-neutral applicants. The floor will provide a space for discussions and events regarding issues surrounding gender identity.
"We are extremely happy with the programming floor, which received 33 on-time applications for 18 beds. It really shows us that people understand this and are very interested," Rachel Class-Giguere, director of Undergraduate Housing, said.
In addition to the programming floor, ORL will offer various rooms on campus that accommodate gender-neutral residents, including five- and three-person suites in Fahey and McLane and five-person suites in Thomas.
"Why not have options for people who don't want to be part of a pilot program floor, for whom this is just about a roommate choice? Or, if gender identity is at play, maybe students don't want to identify with a programming floor," Class-Giguere said.
ORL determined locations for non-programming floor gender-neutral housing based on residence halls that offer private bedrooms and individual bathrooms.
"This plan makes sense, particularly for individuals whose biological sex and gender identity don't correspond. We don't want people staring and wondering 'what bathroom are you using?'" Class-Giguere said.
While gender-neutral housing is available for interested students, students do not have to be part of a gender-neutral group to live in a room designated as gender-neutral.
"I think that it is admirable that [ORL is] trying to launch this program," gender-neutral housing applicant Sarah Fearon '08 said. "I remember hearing about the possibility of gender-neutral housing my freshman year, so I guess three years later is better than nothing."
According to Class-Giguere, ORL considers the 2007-2008 school year to be the pilot year in gender-neutral housing at Dartmouth.
"We will see how well this system works and how many students take advantage of it at room draw. The desire for gender-neutral housing really is there, and we look forward to seeing what happens at room draw when those spaces are available," she said.
ORL anticipates complications when gender-neutral residents take their various off terms.
"We are interested to see next year how this all plays out when vacancies occur. If gender-neutral students don't have a roommate, who do we place in that space?" Class-Giguere said. "We will work ahead of time with people who are mixed gender to find a solution."
Gender-neutral housing is increasing on campuses nationwide, according to Class-Giguere.
"Other schools like UPenn, Brown and Stanford have paved the way for us. We're not cutting-edge in the field, but we're not the last to figure out that this is a need," she said.
The implementation of the new housing option reflects increased efforts by ORL to acknowledge gender identity as a part of Dartmouth's non-descrimination policy.
"We want to make sure we're really keeping with that policy, but more importantly, that we are meeting the needs of our students so that students can feel safe and comfortable on campus," Class-Giguere said.
