This fall, both Brown and Stanford joined the list of universities that permit gender-neutral housing. Their policies allow students of the opposite gender to live in the same room if they choose to do so, though specific policies vary from school to school. Because gender-neutral housing aims to make students as comfortable as possible in their living arrangements, Columbia University Undergraduate Housing should not restrict rooms to a single gender.
In the past few years, a number of Columbia's peer institutions—including the University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth, Brown, Stanford, and the California Institute of Technology—have given students the option of living in mixed-gender rooms. Though undergraduates at Barnard, Columbia College, and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences can choose to live in coed suites, official school policy prohibits students of the opposite gender from living in the same room. This policy trivializes the needs of students who might feel more comfortable living with someone of the opposite gender. It forces students to choose roommates based on the sex they were assigned to at birth rather than the one with which they identify. The policy also prevents some students from choosing the roommate with whom they would feel most comfortable. While occurrences of unsanctioned room swapping do occur, not every student who wishes to live with someone of the opposite gender can arrange a comfortable living situation.
The University should affirm its commitment to providing equal opportunities for all students by offering gender-neutral housing. The introduction of such a policy would only affect students who choose to take advantage of it. When assigned to a blind double students would assume they'd have a roommate of the same sex unless they requested otherwise. Students who prefer gender-neutral housing would go through the same housing lottery as all other undergraduate students, and could request to live with a roommate of the same or opposite gender if they were assigned to a blind double. Barnard's Student Government Association has begun drafting a proposal that would allow male Columbia students to live with females in Barnard doubles and triples outside the Quad, and other undergraduate councils should create similar resolutions to give this movement momentum at Columbia.
The University has long demonstrated its commitment to fostering an environment in which students can feel welcome and secure. More and more universities across the U.S. acknowledge the good sense of gender-neutral housing, and Columbia should not delay in joining their ranks.
