One of the aspects of entering college life for the first time is living with people you don’t know. Whether you got paired up randomly, you messaged your assigned roommate on social media or you managed to keep a friend from high school along for the ride, odds are you experienced at least one semester living with someone you’ve never spent multiple days with.
OCU has a historical policy preventing co-ed rooming.
Reid Powell, student senate member and political science/philosophy sophomore, has researched and drafted a resolution for gender-inclusive and co-ed housing. Housing officials have expressed approval and support for these measures.S
Gender can no longer be defined by a binary (and truly, it never could). As OCU continues to develop panels and outreach programs designed for inclusivity of gender and sexuality, they need to adapt their policies to reflect these values.
College is a time when people can question and learn about themselves in a safe environment, and this process often leads people to discover new aspects of their identity that they did not know of, or were repressed by societal norms. College is a time of transition, and for some students that means recognizing and working toward their true gender identity. Because of this aspect of young adulthood and the transformative nature of college, OCU needs policies in place to support incoming students that don’t identify with their assigned sex at birth (ASAB), current students questioning their identity and students who, during their time on campus, stop identifying with their ASAB.
Policies enforcing binary, same-sex dorm assignments cannot appropriately or easily accommodate people with transgender, nonbinary, genderfluid, agender, demigender, bigender, intersex, genderqueer, or two-spirit identities. Humanity exists outside of a male/female binary, and the reinforcement of that binary makes life difficult and may cause discomfort for people whom that binary cannot include. A policy designed presumably for safety becomes an obstacle, a reminder of someone’s status as “other.”
Even for people with cis identities, gender-inclusive housing can only serve to make life easier. If people want to room with friends of a different gender identity, no matter what that gender is, they should be allowed to do so. It’s far better to have a roommate one can communicate and live easily with than one with a similar ASAB. Gender-inclusive policies will align with OCU’s values, support non-cis identities and allow people to create healthier living environments for themselves. OCU should support such measures as effectively as possible.
Leave a Reply