2008 Woodie Awards
New housing options for the upcoming year
Coed and gender-neutral housing
Emily Passey
Issue date: 4/21/06 Section: News
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The official change was finalized Feb. 21 of this year, though the coed plan was first brought up last spring to LUCC's Residence Life Committee.
Former LUCC president Pete Snyder credits the original idea to members of a gender studies class who were pushing for a floor of gender-neutral housing, but the idea lost momentum.
Gaby Szteinberg, the current chair of the Residence Life Committee, also says that last year's committee members, mostly consisting of outgoing seniors, were mainly opposed to the idea.
In the fall, Snyder renewed the idea with renewed interest and this time the proposition fell on more welcome ears. After considering possible options and speaking with numerous students on campus, Snyder gave a speech earlier this year on his reasoning behind wanting to create a gender-neutral housing option at Lawrence.
"After conversations with a number of students, I thought that mandatory divisions between men and women on campus were unnecessary for college students," Snyder said.
He also said he considers Lawrence students "intelligent and responsible enough to decide for ourselves if we wanted to live a person of the opposite gender."
Szteinberg said that she and the committee heard Snyder's proposal open-mindedly and many members were enthusiastic. Some considerations about the idea were debated, such whether or not freshman should be allowed the option and how to address parents who found the idea immoral.
Despite worry over student concerns, the committee conducted a Voyager survey and the results were positive - a 9-1 ratio of those in favor. There were a few negative responses, however, which is why Szteinberg said the committee decided to only convert a few floors on campus in select buildings.
Sean Herman, another member of the Residence Life Committee, contacted members of Lawrence's Gay, Lesbian, Other or Whatever organization, who helped him research the existing policies of gender-neutral housing at other colleges such as Macalester, Oberlin, Beloit and Hamline.
Hamline University was experimenting this year with a themed gender-neutral floor. Students had to interview in order to be allowed to live there. Herman said that LUCC talked about interviewing students to allow them to live on gender-neutral floors and also debated whether to limit the floors to gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender students, but both ideas were rejected.