With Bowdoin College’s recent decision to adopt a gender-neutral housing policy, the push by student activists to eliminate gender as a determinant in campus housing continues in colleges throughout the U.S., yet remains a non-issue at Bates.
Following a lengthy campaign for gender-neutral rooming assignments by Bowdoin students, the college announced in early February that its spring housing lottery would allow students to opt for gender-blind double rooms. The policy was adopted in response to concerns expressed by the gay and lesbian community, according to Bowdoin’s Associate Dean of Student Affairs and Director of Residential Life.
The history of gender-neutral housing policies on college campuses is young. Smaller, socially liberal institutions, such as Oberlin College and Wesleyan University, first took the lead in embracing this policy in the early 2000s. Since then, the movement has expanded rapidly. Today, thirty college administrations have implemented the policy, roughly half of them within the past four years. All Ivy League member schools, with the exception of Yale, observe gender-neutral rooming practices.
At Bates, gender-neutral housing has been largely out of focus.
“During my time at Bates, there has been no student demand for a gender-neutral housing policy,” said Tedd Goundie, Dean of Students. “It might be that the mixed gender suite option or the single room option is adequate.”
The student club OUTfront, which seeks to illuminate vital issues of gender and sexuality and spread tolerance in the Bates community and beyond, has not raised the issue of gender-neutral housing, according to Goundie. “If they have raised it, they haven’t been loud enough,” he said.
“OUTfront does not have a consensus opinion on the housing policy,” said one OUTfront member, who asked to remain anonymous. “Nor has the club as a group discussed this issue with the administration, at least in the four years I have been here and to my knowledge not previously.”
The club, however, has been active in airing its concerns about gender identity on campus. OUTfront alum Sawyer Stone ’06 and Erica Rand, Professor of Women and Gender Studies and Art and Visual Culture, successfully advocated to include gender identity and expression in the college’s nondiscrimination policy.
Many of OUTfront’s members support the idea of observing gender-neutral rooming. “The fact that we now have such a nondiscrimination policy says to me that there needs to be gender-neutral housing,” said Rand. “If housing is based on male or female but we supposedly avoid discriminating against people who might not claim male or female as an identity, we have a problem.”
“Adopting a gender-neutral housing policy would give equal rights to all students,” said junior Hannah Arenstam, a member of OUtfront. “But it might inspire some drama with the couples in the Bates Bubble.”
Other students say it would not be problematic for romantic couples to share rooms. “I imagine the college’s biggest concern would be the logistics involved when couples move in together and then break up, but I think students are mature enough to know when they are or aren’t ready to live together,” said Erin Reed ’08, an OUTfront alum. “I think Bates should adopt a gender-neutral housing policy.”
The Student Housing Office also does not oppose gender-neutral rooming assignments on the basis that romantic couples may end up living together, said Goundie. “We have heard from other colleges like Wesleyan that they almost never have a case where a man and a woman pick a double together,” he said. “And anyways, if romantic couples want to share a room, they do it now. There isn’t much supervision.”
The Bates College Student Government (BCSG) has not encountered thtopic either. “The BCSG has yet to discuss this issue at all,” said Parliamentarian Mikey Pasek ‘12. However, the BCSG is willing to talk about it if students share this concern, he said. “We could go about gauging student interest by using the new student government website where you can post an idea and see if there are responses.”
There have been exceptions to the prevailing trend of silence amongst the student body. A transgender student recently approached the administration about his living situation, according several members of OUTfront.
“This student was transitioning from female to male and was allowed to live with the roommate of his choice,” said Arenstam. “He chose a female roommate, and according to him, the administration was very helpful in allowing him to pick his roommate, as well as a room that was close to a gender-neutral bathroom.”
Despite its past inaction regarding the adoption of a school-wide policy, the Bates administration appears to be open to the topic. “Each year before housing lottery, we gather students to talk about all sorts of living situations from co-ed suites to chem.-free dorms and houses,” said Goundie. “But this [gender-neutral housing] issue just hasn’t come up in the six years I have been here.”
Alums and parents have voiced concerns about mixed-gender dormitories and bathrooms, said Goundie. “There has been eyebrow raising by alums and rare calls from parents who are not comfortable with this,” he said.
The college does not necessarily adhere to these opinions, according to President Elaine Hansen. “We take a lot of opinions into consideration, but chief among them are what Dean Goundie and the Student Housing office express,” she said. “We want to ensure Bates students have the best experience possible.”
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