Student petitions for gender-neutral housing

For students who do not fit the "gender norms" of their sex, sharing a dorm room with someone of the same sex can prove to be difficult.

"I know I was harassed when I lived in a dorm by some ultra-masculine guys on my not-so-masculine traits," said David Holtzapple, a fourth year pharmacology student at UT.

Holtzapple is part of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning and Allies community on campus.

"I would feel so much more comfortable if I didn't have to live up to gender stereotypes and could feel more at home in on-campus housing," he said. "I moved into an apartment my sophomore year because of that."

Matt Ellis, a junior majoring in medicinal and biological chemistry, is trying to provide a better atmosphere for students with experiences similar to Holtzapple's by petitioning for gender-neutral housing at UT.

Ellis has been circulating the petition on campus for a week and though he is unsure exactly how many students have signed it, he said most students he approached were supportive.

"Every now and then there are some who are hesitant to sign it," he said. "But if they have questions we have a discussion about it and they end up signing it. Obviously there are those who do not even stop to talk to me about it, and that's OK, too."

Ellis said this type of housing will be most beneficial to transgender students whose presence on campus is often overlooked.

"Of course there is LGBT in general, but transgender is something that is less talked about and I think less people understand it," he said. "I think there does need to be more discussion about it and we are going to start handing out informational pamphlets as well when circulating the petition so hopefully that will help inform people."

Ellis said transgender students are not the only ones who will benefit from this.

"We are all adults; most freshmen are at least 18," he said. "I've also heard cases of international students who want to live on campus with their siblings but they can't because they are the opposite sex."

Ellis, who is a member of the Student Senate, said after he collects enough signatures he plans to write a resolution to submit to the senate. If passed, the resolution will then be forwarded to the administration.

Ohio University, Miami University — Oxford, Yale University and Stanford University are just a few schools offering gender neutral housing.

Ellis said the specifics of the gender neutral housing have not been worked out. He just wants to focus on collecting signatures for now.

"Right now, when you apply for housing, you sign up to be in the residence hall and you can kind of coordinate with your friends like who you want to live with and that's how I would like to see it," he said. "There's other people who would like it to be a random assignment and there's ups and downs with both, but we're not concerned with that right now."

Holtzapple said the separation of students by their gender is an important issue for the LGBTQA community and needs to be addressed "as soon as possible."

"[Transgender students] may be transitioning and not feel comfortable living with certain people," Ellis said. "They base your gender off your birth certificate and a transgender person may not identify with the sex on their birth certificate."

Ellis is hoping to collect signatures through February and start working on a proposal to submit to the Student Senate and onto the administration by mid-March.

He said he is unsure of how many signatures is enough, but he wants to show that students are supportive of this and raise awareness about how to accommodate transgender students at UT.