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HRL reviews gender- neutral housing possibility
JONATHAN MUNSHAW
Assistant News Editor
Starting next fall, Towson will potentially offer its first gender-neutral housing options, in Newell and
Millennium residence halls, according to Jerry Dieringer, assistant vice president for student affairs.
Dieringer said that gender-neutral housing will be an option for new and returning students as a pilot
program, designed to gauge how well received the program could be on campus.
"It is a pilot that we are looking at. It has not been finally approved. We have talked to URG [University
Residence Government], QSU [Queer Student Union], GenderBLUR, and In the Life, as well as the
Center for Student Diversity Staff,” Dieringer said. "It is really important to hear the students’ point of
view. This is really just to see how the housing will go and see the reaction to it. "
The gender-neutral housing option is a great opportunity for students who identify as lesbian, gay,
bi-sexual or transgendered, so that they could possibly room with someone who identifies the same as
them, according to QSU president Joseph Weeks.
"Right now, if the University sees that a transgendered person’s birth certificate lists them as a
woman, when they identify as a man, they will still put them with a female-bodied person, and that
person may not be OK with who the transgendered person sees themselves as," he said.
Not everyone on campus is in favor of gender-neutral housing.
Political science major Aaron Rose said that he is concerned with issues that the housing arrange¬
ments could cause that go beyond the normal problems roommates face.
"1 feel like it would be very possible and easy for the male to physically abuse or threaten the women
during conflicts in the privacy of their own home that women would feel threatened or fearful of sharing
with the RA [Resident Assistant] for fear of retaliation from the male," Rose said.
Director of Residence Life Ron Butler said that he is not concerned with RAs facing issues they had
not handled before, and that he feels a gender-neutral housing environment is one of acceptance, not
violence.
“We are sensitive to the fact that it’s different, but we are doing our best to have it be successful. We
will approach conflicts that arise as any other conflict that occurs in residence halls," he said, "I feel like
most of the concerns of this are just coming from those who want to share their ignorance."
Electronic media and film major Dana Chapman said she agreed with Butler, and said that gender-
neutral housing will cultivate a sense of understanding among the residents.
See DORM, page 10
