International, wellness, quiet and honors housing are among the themes Northeastern students can choose from when picking a place to live on campus. But the possibility of gender-neutral housing for Northeastern’s transgender population could someday be an option as well.
“I think a lot of this has gotten to the point where someone needs to sit down and understand what the process needs to be and really address what’s going on with this part of [Northeastern’s] population,” said Emily Donahue, manager of communications and special projects in the office of student affairs. She said she hopes to meet with students “in reaction to some things I’d heard on campus,” she said.
These “things” include an incident on Feb. 9, when a student dressed as a woman presented a male identification at the Marino Center and entered the women’s locker room, according to The Northeastern News Crime Log. The student, who is in gender transition, was asked to change before she entered the Marino Center.
This is against Boston’s discrimination laws, said Laura Langley, a law student and member of Northeastern Law’s Queer Caucus, which allows individuals to access facilities based on their gender identity.
Langley said the Queer Caucus sent out letters to the President’s Office, the Marino Center and the Public Safety office requesting that transgender rights and housing on campus be addressed, but has only heard back from public safety, who told her Northeastern’s University Law Counsel was forming a response to their concerns.
Sue Ekizian, associate director of the Marino Center, said she too was waiting for word from University Counsel on how to handle future situations like the one last month.
“They haven’t told me anything yet,” she said.
Dean of Affirmative Action and Diversity Donnie Perkins said he has begun to research how other universities and corporations handle transgender issues, and said the process must be handled carefully and diligently.
“One of the things that our office is responsible for is to try to address complaints of discrimination wherever or whenever they occur,” Perkins said. “It’s not something that we take lightly.”
Meanwhile, the Queer Caucus has held a “transgender 101” information session, which was attended by over 60 law students, Langley said. The next step for the group is to try to form a coalition with undergraduate groups, such as the Northeastern Bisexual, Lesbian, Gay, Transgendered and Straight Alliance (NUBiLAGA). While she said she feels some progress is being made, she said she is frustrated by the university’s lack of overall response so far.
“At this point the university’s response is pretty unacceptable,” she said, adding that she feels the university “is passively condoning the discrimination that is going on.”
The Queer Caucus’ final goal, Langley said, is to ensure transgender students have access to all university facilities based on what gender they identify with. While she said the group will tackle the Marino Center first, she does hope to see gender-neutral housing available to students someday.
Donahue said student affairs has to gauge the demand for such housing on campus and determine whether it would be utilized enough to make it worthwhile.
“I’m hoping that I can get some good feedback from people and eventually see what we can do about meeting the needs of this group,” she said.
Many schools across the country already have gender-neutral housing open to transgender students. Tufts University’s “Rainbow House” and Wesleyan University’s “open house” are available to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and straight students.
