When The Daily first learned that only one Northwestern dorm room contains a male and a female as part of the gender-neutral housing program this year, we were shocked. The news of the program, announced last April was met across campus with excitement. Rainbow Alliance and other groups applauded the move. This newspaper wrote an editorial praising the administration. Seventeen students signed up to live in gender-neutral housing and the administration set aside two suites in 1835 Hinman.
But now it appears that, in the past six months, something has gone wrong. While we continue to applaud the administration for signing onto the program and believe that it had only the best intentions in planning its implementation, it clearly made some mistakes.
Last spring, when gender-neutral housing was first proposed and implemented, The Daily commended Morty and his team for approving this necessary program but reiterated the necessity of offering this housing choice to incoming freshmen.
The overwhelming majority of freshmen live on campus, and they constitute the majority of on-campus residents. We continue to believe that this step is critical in the future success of the program. On-campus housing should constantly work to be especially welcoming to the youngest members of the NU community.
Part of the reason that the Class of 2014 was not given the choice of gender-neutral housing was because some housing forms had already been sent out before gender-neutral housing was confirmed.
In addition, by the time the program was confirmed, most non-freshmen had already set up their housing for the next year. In a world of expensive and limited off-campus housing, most students who choose to go that route confirm their housing plan early in the year before they are scheduled to live there.
We believe that the administration viewed the late offering of gender-neutral housing as a “something is better than nothing” situation. But the limited offering is also evidence that the program was rushed.
While the sentiment to have the program running and available as soon as possible has merit, there was clearly not enough time to implement the program responsibly this year. Students in the gender-neutral wing now are left with a largely empty hallway – only two doubles and two singles are occupied this year with eight rooms left empty.
Perhaps if more time was given to organizing the program, freshmen could have been better coordinated their housing choices and returning students would have had time to comfortably contemplate the option of gender-neutral housing.
We often criticize the administration for moving too slowly. In this case, it appears that it moved too quickly. LGBT issues are sensitive and time for ample planning and communication should be allowed to cater to these sensitivities.
Beyond the time constraint, there was also a staffing issue. Implementing any new program, let alone one with the complexities of gender-neutral housing, requires more than one person. However, the administration left Doris Dirks, a woman already loaded with responsibilities, to coordinate setting up the new housing program by herself.
Dirks’ experience with LGBT students through advising the student group was obviously valuable to the new program’s execution, but gender-neutral housing is also a housing issue. Dirks should have offered her expertise in a consulting position but Undergraduate Housing, with both staff and knowledge of the housing process, could have handled the issue more effectively.
The scope of gender-neutral housing goes beyond the LGBT community. Important issues such as this one should not be isolated to one community or department. The cooperation of multiple resources throughout the university is necessary and beneficial to all involved. Offering appropriate housing involves more then LGBT familiarity. There are many considerations that require knowledge of everything from paperwork to permits.
Due to its mediocre first year, there is concern about the program’s future. Yet the issues mentioned have relatively simple remedies. What gender-neutral housing provides as a welcoming atmosphere for LGBT students cannot be compromised. We hope that with the appropriate time and staff investment from the administration, the program will achieve its lofty potential.
