By Adam Reale
The cover story of the March 16 edition of The Northeastern News, “Growing Pains,” by Michael Naughton, discussed the university’s proposed plan to erect two new residence halls housing a combined 1,555 new beds. It goes without saying that there is a serious lack of available on-campus housing.
President Richard Freeland has expressed his desire to provide housing to 75 percent of the undergraduate population, an admirable goal considering the limited resources the university has at any given time.
However, the housing debate seems to revolve solely around numbers and not quality.
Northeastern prides itself on being a diverse school in an urban environment. Too often, however, the students who provide the diversity that the university cherishes are forgotten. This is highlighted when the school attempts to provide new facilities or services.
A case in point is the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) community. Assuming the commonly held notion that 10 percent of the population is gay is true, Northeastern, with an undergraduate population of around 15,000 students, would have 1,500 GLBT students. These students, who provide a great deal to the school, deserve what their counterparts at so many other institutions have – access to themed housing.
Unlike members of the African-American or Latino/a communities, the GLBT community lacks a stand-alone facility. It’s unlikely the university will magnanimously provide such a facility. In this case Residential Life, with its proposed increase in housing, should, out of fairness, move to designate the floor of one of its upperclass residence halls as being GLBT housing.
Tufts University provides its students with the “Rainbow House,” which exists to provide lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and ally students a housing option where their sexual orientation will not be an issue,” according to a university Web site. This has been a housing option for undergraduates since 1998. Other universities provide a similar option to undergraduates, including the Foothill Residence Hall at the University of California at Berkeley. These facilities provide a needed housing option. Northeastern has already designated the 230-bed West Village F, set to open in the summer of 2006, for freshman honors students. The university presently offers freshmen a plethora of housing options. There is Kennedy Hall for freshman honors students, Loftman Hall for international students, quiet floors, wellness floors and themed housing for the criminal justice, engineering, computer science, business and Bouve
