In response to the widely-reported suicide of a homosexual student, New Jersey's Rutgers University has decided to have girls and boys sleep next to each other, and share the same showers.
Makes no sense, you say? Perhaps a more advanced degree would help (or maybe an ivory tower office)?
-- From "Rutgers to offer 'gender neutral' housing after student's suicide" by Marisa Kendall, USA TODAY 3/1/11
Rutgers instated the new gender-neutral housing after members of the university's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) community advocated the change, said The Daily Targum, the university paper.
Co-ed housing will be offered in three residents halls and will not be an option for freshmen. Only students who already know each other can live together in gender-neutral rooms. Two residents halls will also have new gender-neutral bathrooms (with new locks on the shower stalls).
Co-ed housing can ease an LGBTQ student's fear of not being accepted by his or her assigned roommate, Joan Carbone, executive director of Residence Life told The Daily Targum.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Rutgers University Implements Co-Ed Dorms After Student's Suicide" by WPIX Newsroom 3/1/11
As part of a new gender-neutral program, Rutgers University will soon allow students to share a dorm with a roommate of the opposite sex.
Under the new program, gay, lesbian and transgender students will get the option of having either a male or female roommate. Heterosexual students will also be permitted to dorm with students of the opposite sex.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Rutgers to introduce co-ed dorms" by CNN 3/1/11
The gender-neutral housing pilot program starts in the fall and is aimed at helping gay students feel more safe and comfortable. But it's not just for gay students.
"I think my parents would be fine with it," said [student] Alex Sullivan. "It's obvious it's supposed to be like you're living with a friend, not with like a girlfriend or something. So if you trust us to be adults, which you should because we're all adults, it makes sense to me."
The executive director for residence life says the school will not ask housing candidates if they are romantically involved.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Rutgers Okays 'Gender-Neutral' Dorm Rooms to Help Gays Feel Safer" By Bonnie Rochman, Time Magazine 3/3/11
Now New Jersey's state university has become the latest to announce it will allow male and female students to share a dorm room, in an effort to make the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community of students feel right at home.
Two months ago, Joan Carbone, the university's executive director of residence life, met with student representatives of the college's LGBT community . . .
Rutgers is calling its new co-ed living arrangements “gender-neutral housing” because students can choose to live with whomever they want: two men, two women or a woman and a man. Freshmen will not be able to select a roommate, but they can indicate a preference for an open-minded person who is welcoming of different sexual orientations.
Parents unhappy with such an unorthodox dorm-room living situation are pretty much out of luck since housing contracts are signed by students. “We won't be talking to parents about this,” says Carbone.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
Click headlines below to read previous articles:
'Gender-neutral' Dorm Roommates Latest Trend
Girls Fear 51-year-old Dorm-mate 'Former Man'
Vermont Student Sues over Co-ed Showers & Toilets
Ohio Univ. Gender-neutral Dorm Living
Texas Christian University Provides Homosexual-designated Housing
Univ. of Chicago Provides Coed Dorm Rooms
Univ. of Pittsburgh Opens Girls' Dorm to Cross-dressing Men
Colleges Offering Coed Dorm Rooms
