USU to pilot gender-inclusive housing

Utah State University administrators approved a plan for piloting gender-inclusive on-campus housing during the 2022-23 academic year.

Residence Life, Housing Services and the Inclusion Center at USU have been working for several years in collaboration to offer this housing option.

Erika Lindstrom, the gender and sexuality coordinator with the Inclusion Center, explained the reasoning behind offering gender-inclusive housing.

“We have students who, for various reasons, are not being seen on this campus,” Lindstrom said. “They don’t feel safe on this campus. We want students that come onto the USU campus to feel safe and welcome.”

The housing option will be open to students of all genders and sexual identities. It is an option for students who are uncomfortable rooming with members of the same sex, are transgender or gender non‐conforming and feel they would be more compatible with a roommate of a different sex or gender, or who do not want sex or gender to be a factor in choosing a roommate.

The housing pilot will be open to all full-time, undergraduate and graduate students through the housing selection process.

Once a student has applied for a one-year on-campus housing contract and paid their deposit, they will be welcome to apply for housing within the program by contacting the housing office.

Applications for gender-inclusive housing went live on March 15.

The pilot is not a permanent change to housing policy. The pilot will act as a testing period for the change, and any necessary changes will be made to the program following a review in January 2023.

Additionally, as with all Residence Life policies, gender-inclusive housing will be continuously reviewed and improved to meet the needs of students.

There will be 12 spaces set aside for the program.

Lindstrom said she’s hoping students who do not identify with their assigned sex can find comfort in the progress made with the pilot program.

“We’re moving in a better direction for being inclusive,” Lindstrom said. “This is an opportunity to have more conversations and that tential dialogue to keep changing policies and the negative encounters that students are having on campus.”

Sophie Christensen, a first-year college student who identifies as queer, heard about the program through an email from the Inclusion Center and was excited for the news.

“I think it’s better to have policies in place that allow students to live without fear of transphobia or homophobia,” Christensen said. “Most of the time with on-campus housing, you’re signing up to live with a random person.”

Christensen currently lives on campus and described the experience of moving into her current room as terrifying.

“There was a good chance that one of them would have a problem with me,” Christensen said. “Ultimately, it worked out really well for me, but that’s not the case for everyone.”

Christensen also said the lack of gender-inclusive housing at USU almost caused her to attend the University of Utah instead.

“The U of U does have inclusive housing, and I had signed up for it prior to coming to USU,” Christensen said. “Because of that, I was really glad when I heard they were implementing it at USU.”

Currently, more than 425 universities in the U.S. offer gender-inclusive housing according to the Campus Pride Index.

However, USU will only be the third university or college in the state of Utah to pilot a gender-inclusive housing option.

-Jared.Adams@usu.edu

Featured photo by: Phil Weber