Committee on Student Life puts finishing touches on gender-neutral language

On the evening of Sept. 29, the Committee on Student Life met to revise the language in a new Vassar Student Association (VSA) Council statement on gender-neutral housing, which will be put to a vote in the next Council meeting on Oct. 5.

This resolution will be a continuation of the goals of last year's Council to bring gender-neutral housing to Vassar. In February 2008, the Council unanimously passed a resolution in support of gender-neutral housing with the hope that a policy would be implemented by the April room draw. This plan, however, fell through.

One factor that went into the delay was the imminent renovation of Davison House. According to Vice President of Student Life Nate Silver '10, last spring was not the easiest time to implement a new housing policy, because it would have added another element to an already complicated draw period. However, Silver now feels that the College has the experience with the complications that dorm renovations bring to the room draw, so it is ready to move forward with this policy.

The current resolution came before the Council in its last meeting on Sept. 28, but VSA President Jimmy Kelly '09 and Silver suggested that the Council wait until the next meeting to vote on the language after a debate arose over the word choice within the document, particularly the difference between the words "sex" and "gender." The language will be revised by next week's meeting, when Kelly hopes that the Council will unanimously pass this resolution so as to send the strongest possible statement to the Board of Trustees.

According to Silver, any gender-neutral policy adopted by the College would most likely apply to upper-class students who are choosing their housing situation for the 2009-10 academic year. Freshmen would still be assigned a roommate of the same sex, unless they specified that this is an unacceptable option.These cases would be dealt with individually, likely resulting in a single for freshman year.

Silver said that changing the language within the resolution was a "matter of what was right." According to Silver, the correct word with regards to current policy is "sex," because within dormitories students are currently limited to roommates of the same biological sex. There is currently no allusion to different gender identities in housing policies. This resolution is meant to encourage policy that will be considerate of students who do not fall into the gender binary, gay and lesbian students who might not be comfortable with a roommate of the same sex, and of men and women who might identify with traditional gender identities but still would make a very compatible roommate pair.

Silver feels that the most prominent argument opposing gender-neutral housing—the concern that couples will room together—does not take into account the fact that it is currently possible for homosexual couples to share a room, and that other colleges with gender-neutral policies have not experienced any problems of this nature. "We think students are smarter than that," said Silver.