Acorn

Issue date: 2/29/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Charlotte Hammond The gender-neutral housing bill would provide students the ability to live with Drewids of different genders, a situation that's worked well in theme houses. Here, Tom Basgil ('09) spends time with his housemate Bethany Conly ('09) in the Womyn's Concerns House.

Three years ago, Student Government Association Tolley Senator Dara Goldberg ('09) proposed a gender-neutral housing bill to the SGA Senate. That plan may finally be coming to fruition.

"I went to an Alliance meeting my freshman year where they were talking about it and I said, 'well, let's just do it,'" Goldberg said. "I was also Tolley senator, so I just wrote a bill. I talked it over with the Alliance and they took over the issue and that's how it should be."

After that, the issue fell off the radar.

"We were told by the administration that the proposal came too late in the year," Alliance Senior Coordinator Jen Dugan ('08) said. "What I found in the Bergen Record earlier this year was a quote from a representative of the University saying that the transgender student had transferred so they didn't feel like it was an issue anymore. We have other trans[gender] students on our campus and, as with any community, that falls under the queer community. So the issue still is an issue, and that's why we're still pushing for it."

Dean of Campus Life and Student Affairs Dawn Williams got Welch/ Holloway Resident Director James Ramey involved. "Dean Williams asked me to be the liaison between the administration and the Alliance on the proposal. From there, I just became more and more involved in working on the proposal with Jen Dugan," Ramey said.

Last year, Ramey and the Alliance continued working on it. "We brought the proposal to the student body at the beginning of this year. From that, we've now written a final draft," Dugan said.

"The students have looked at best practices from other universities and taken in feedback from the student town hall meetings. Hopefully, they'll be able to put together a good document to send to [Dean Williams]," Merckx said.

Dugan said that she and Ramey have worked closely together on the current draft of the proposal. "Jimmy and I were working on the student concerns that were brought up. Then we figured out how to take all the past proposals and turn them into one final proposal," she said.

The next step in the process will involve Williams. "I'll be reviewing the final draft and meeting with everyone when it comes out, which should be soon," Williams said. Ramey said that soon could mean as early as today.

If Williams moves forward with the proposal, she will send it to President Bob Weisbuch and his cabinet members.

"The time frame would be that we would want this to be put in place for the spring of this year and ready for fall of next year," she said.

Dugan is optimistic. "Diversityhas been a huge concern here lately. This is a diversity issue and I think it's going to get dealt with," she said.

"If it's not inclusive of everybody, it promotes a heterosexist viewpoint," Dugan said. "Heterosexual, gay, transgender, whatever-you should be able to room with who you want to room with."

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