“It isn’t a gay issue.”
To Jill Weiss, it is an issue for anyone who is different.
Weiss, a lecturer in the department of sociology and anthropology at Northeastern, held a meeting on July 31 to form a plan of action and brainstorm ways to get the administration to react. The reaction that she is looking for is a policy acknowledging transgendered students at Northeastern.
“This is not confined to transgendered people, but to anyone who is different, the issue came to the forefront because of housing,” she said. “Right now, the system is too rigid and people don’t understand the issue. The system needs to be changed to accommodate people who are different.”
The Director of University Communications Ed Klotzbier said the university’s Equal Opportunity Policy is clear when it comes to discrimination.
“We do not tolerate any form of discrimination at all. The policies are very clear,” Klotzbier said.
The policy states:
“Northeastern University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, religious creed, sex, sexual orientation, age, national origin, ancestry, veteran status or disability status. Moreover, the university will not ignore any form of discrimination or harassment including sexual harassment. Nor will Northeastern condone any form of retaliatory activity against any person who brings a complaint of discrimination or harassment, or who cooperates in a complaint investigation.”
The administration has set up a gay, lesbian and transgendered advisory board to discuss the issue in-depth, but has not arrived at any decisions on policy changes.
“I think a lot of people understand that everyone needs and deserves respect,” Weiss, who is currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program within NU’s law, policy and society program in the law school, said. “But people may not understand gender variance. Some people may not change their sex completely, there is a wide range within gender variance.”
Weiss said that although today’s society is more accepting than in years past, it is not right to object to how a transgendered person lives their life.
“People who have an objection are not entitled in a civil state and government to say in a public setting, [that] I’m not permitted to be a part of the community,” said Weiss, who is transgendered. “You do need to let me be.”
The Student Government Association President Michael Romano said that this is not an issue of choice, but an issue of education and advocacy.
“There needs to be a policy. Students should not have to suffer or sit around in the gray area while the university conveniently compiles information,” he said. “As there was ignorance and intolerance of homosexuals in the early ’90s, the exact same issue exists today.”
Weiss said that she wants to see two things happen; a policy to be created acknowledging transgendered students, faculty and staff and for the entire university to become educated on the issue.
“If the university wants to move to the top 100, why look at schools who are the bottom denomination?” she said.
Schools in the area have created different policies to accommodate and include transgendered students on their campuses. As reported in the Boston Globe on July 27, Wesleyan University in Connecticut will open a new floor of “gender-blind” dorm rooms in the fall and students at Smith College eliminated the word “she” from their constitution to respect female students who identify themselves as males.
Gender in conjunction to housing surfaced at NU when a transgender student, who was born as a female, but identifies himself as male, tried to obtain housing on campus. In the May 28 issue of The News, the student, Jaxon White, said he was not allowed to live with men because the university pairs students with same sex roommates. And sex, as the university sees it, is not how a person chooses to live their life, but rather what sex they are born as.
The Department of Residential Life’s “Guide to Residence Hall Living” promotes diversity, stating that while living in a residence hall, students are encouraged to learn about different cultures, interests and values while “your roommate(s) and community members learn about you.”
In the 16-page guide, it does not state that roommates are paired based on their biological sex.
“Northeastern needs to realize that there are special circumstances and that not dealing with them is ignoring the severity of the issue,” White told The News in the May 28 issue. “NU needs to provide gender blind and gender neutral housing for people who need that option.”
The Director of Residential Life M.L. Langlie told The News in May that Northeastern does not have a written policy prohibiting members of the opposite sex from living in campus housing together. Yet, she also said that Northeastern does have a policy stating that the university will only house members of the same sex together.
Weiss said that no one person should have to carry this issue on their shoulders.
“This is not about one student or one issue. No student should be the poster child for this,” Weiss said. “I don’t want this to be my issue. If this is going to be done will it can’t be done on a personal basis. There is a good deal of fear involved because no one wants to be a poster child for the transgendered movement. I’m here to get my education, I’m not here to change society.”
