As students registered for housing last week, advocates for an expansion of Duke’s gender-neutral housing program were unsuccessful in their cause.
Duke Students for Gender Neutrality hoped to expand gender-neutral options for Fall 2012, but lack of communication between DSGN and administrators has halted progress. Duke’s current gender-neutral housing policies will remain in place for another year, limiting students’ gender-neutral housing options to Central Campus only, instead of expanding to West Campus as some students hoped.
“A year setback for a student feels like forever, but from the administrative point of view, it’s not going to matter in the long run,” said DSGN co-President Jacob Tobia, a sophomore. “It’s an inevitable change that will happen—it’s just a matter of when. We want to make that ‘when’ as soon as possible.”
DSGN sought to expand gender-neutral housing policies that would make female-male roommate pairs possible on West as well as Central, but a mutual disconnect between the group and Housing, Dining and Residence Life kept DSGN from presenting their proposal in time, Tobia said. DSGN did not reach out to HDRL, but the office similarly did not communicate a clear deadline for the gender-neutral policy proposal, he added.
Currently, 22 students live in designated gender-neutral houses on Central, eight of which are members of the selective living group The Nexus, as a part of the University’s pilot program for gender-neutral housing. In housing applications for Fall 2012, students were able to select this option.
Recently, DSGN created a detailed proposal that includes statistics from the Duke Student Government house model survey. The proposal advocates for more houses that are able to offer gender-neutral options. The group secured endorsements from more than a dozen campus organizations and groups, and DSG approved a resolution to support their proposal Feb. 1.
Joe Gonzalez, associate dean for resident life, said he believes that Duke needs to have more conversations before determining the best approach.
“What they are requesting is much more dramatic than the pilot approach,” he said. “But we know it’s an important issue for students and even a critical issue for certain students, and it is something that we want to give serious consideration toward so that we can offer the strongest community possible.”
Earlier this Spring, DSGN was also in the process of preparing a presentation for the House Model Working Group and administrators, aiming to integrate gender-neutral policies into the new model for Fall 2012. But they were unable to make the presentation before housing applications went out last week because they were unaware of the early housing deadline, Tobia said.
But administrators have not even shown a strong commitment to the gender-neutral pilot program, Tobia said.
Gonzalez said demand for gender-neutral housing has increased from last year, which indicates success. But HDRL has not collected hard data on the program or sought out feedback from individual students about their experience, he added.
DSGN will, however, meet with the House Model Working Group—made up of students, administrators and other HDRL staff—Thursday. Tobia noted DSGN’s frustration with the lack of administrative transparency in discussions regarding the new housing model.
Administrators rarely reveal their own internal deadlines for when issues need to be advocated or pushed for, said DSG President Pete Schork, a senior.
“In hindsight, it might have been more prudent to forgo getting survey data and advocating ahead of that, but we didn’t want to do anything without engaging student interest,” Schork said. “[DSGN] has put together a very comprehensive proposal.”
DSGN has already begun taking the next steps towards expanded gender-neutral options for 2013. Last week, they met with Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta, and presented a model, which would allow each co-ed house to vote in favor of a gender-neutral option. Moneta instead encouraged them to advocate for gender-neutral options in every co-ed house instead of the voting model, Tobia said. This would make the policy easier for administrators to implement.
Moneta declined to comment.
“Now we’re going to be pushing for allowing gender-neutral pairs in all houses by 2013 or 2014,” Tobia said.
Schork believes the expansion of gender-neutral is feasible for 2013.
“The ultimate goal is to provide all houses with gender-neutral availability,” he said. “The short-term goal is at least to expand an administratively backed gender-neutral option to West Campus and bring unisex bathrooms wherever possible for next Fall.”
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