Mixed reactions to mixed-gender housing at Yale

The Yale College Council announced on Sun., Feb. 21, that rising seniors will have the opportunity to live in on-campus, mixed-gender suites for the 2010-11 school year. The policy, which was first explored in Dec. 2007, was approved by the Yale Corporation last Friday. The rules of the new policy are clear: There will be no mixed-gender bedrooms, students will not be assigned to mixed-gender suites against their will, mixed-gender suites will not have preference in the housing process, and students in relationships are discouraged from rooming together.

In response to this announcement, the Herald asked various Yale students, faculty members, and administrators six questions raised by the policy. They were:

1) Do you think this policy will be helpful for Yale College students?

2) Do you think the mixed gender housing option will be popular for students? Are there specific groups of students who you think will be especially drawn to the option?

3) Does it surprise you that Yale College has approved this policy?

4) What do you think this new policy might say about gender relations going forward here at Yale?

5) What do you think will be the biggest problem with this new policy?

6) What are the next changes, if any, that you anticipate in housing policy here at Yale? (For example, allowing mixed-gender rooms and not just mixed-gender suites.)

Here is what we heard back:

 

Professor Melanie Boyd, SY ’89

Boyd is the Director of Undergraduate Studies of the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program and serves as the Special Advisor to the Dean of Yale College on Gender Issues.

1) Yes. For starters, it will give students more flexibility in their living situations, and that’s always good. Moreover, it will extend to on-campus students a particular form of non-sexual, mixed-gender intimacy that off-campus students have long enjoyed. When roommate situations work out (not always, but often) they can engender trust, understanding, respect, even love—it’s a space where deep friendship can thrive. Allowing these relationships to cross gender lines will only improve our campus climate.

2) Like any change, mixed-gender housing may take a while to take hold. But I expect it to be routine within a few years—it may not be the most common constellation of roommates, but it probably won’t feel too unusual. There’s been a lot of speculation about who will take advantage of this new option. I’m content to wait and see.

3) No. It’s a standard option in colleges across the country—and it’s pretty normative in off-campus living even here at Yale. (I lived in mixed-gender housing off campus in the late ’80s—I don’t remember it being even a source of comment.) Yale is a place with rich traditions, and so sometimes change comes slowly, but it’s hard to imagine this change not occurring sooner or later.

4) I think it’s all for the good—just one more way in which men and women (and those who refuse either label) can see each other as peers.

5) Impatience over however long it takes to trickle down to students other than seniors.

6) Like this last change, it will depend upon student desires. What restrictions do you want lifted? How diligently are you prepared to lobby for them?

 

Blair Lanier, PC ’11

Lanier is the Business Coordinator of the Women’s Center at Yale.

1) Yes, I do. The general reaction to the policy reflects how it will be good for Yale students in that I have not spoken with anybody who is violently upset by the policy, but I have spoken to a lot of people who are extremely excited or generally pleased. A lot of people say this is what they have been waiting for a long time, and they are so excited that this has passed. People who might not take advantage of it still say that they think it’s good for the community. Those people who really wanted it to pass will greatly profit from its passage, and those students who were indifferent or vaguely opposed will not be negatively affected.

2) I think there are a lot of people who feel very strongly that their gender should not be a constraining factor on their choices, very broadly interpreted, and that sort of belief extends to the housing issues. So I think that for those students who would like to be able to make the choices that are best for them like the important decision of whom to live with, and who believe that those very important choices should not be constrained by their gender, this is an extremely meaningful policy.

3) No, because they should have approved it. I am not surprised but I am glad that they approved it, considering how long it took to approve.

4) I honestly don’t think it will have a huge impact. I think the only impact will be positive for those people who will beneficially take advantage of the new policy.

5) I think with any new policy there are kinks to be worked out. I don’t have any tricky foresight, but it always takes a little while to figure out exactly how things work. I don’t think there will be any huge problems because the people who will decide to take advantage of it will do so for good reason and are already thinking of doing so. People learn quickly what wrong decisions are.

6) I very much hope that the option will be extended to sophomores and juniors. I think that would be good and would make a lot of sense. I think the general trend of making sure that various identity factors do not constrain people’s choices will be a continuing trend. Yale’s housing policy is really great, and something to recognize is that Yale’s housing policy is one of the reasons Yale is such an attractive place to go to school. As we are improving the policy, it is important to recognize that it already works pretty well.

 

Master Steven Smith

Smith is the Master of Branford College and a professor of Political Science.

1) Frankly, I was—and still am—a skeptic about these changes. I look at them less in terms of what kinds of problems they will solve, but what they will create. Perhaps the actual consequences will be minimal, but I am not sure I care for the direction in which the process is tending.

4) I have raised before a certain precedent about this. About 15 years ago, a group of orthodox students petitioned to have a single-sex wing or floor of a residential space and their petition—and later their legal case—was rejected. I thought that this was the right decision. Given that fact, it was unclear to me why the current change of policy was justified and why the rooming preferences of some students should be given priority over the religious convictions of others. But I realize that I am out of step with the Age.

6) You ask what are the “next changes” that I anticipate, clearly suggesting that this policy alone will not stand but that it is merely a way station to something else. I think this is entirely possible, but what that “something else” might be I do not wish to speculate about. (I take it, though, that while mixed-gender rooms are currently prohibited, this would be impossible to enforce once a mixed-gender suite has been created).

 

Professor William Summers

Summers is a professor of History of Science and Medicine and Molecular Biology & Biochemistry and has taught classes in the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program.

2) Yes, once they become familiar with the option. One might expect the students who are socially more secure, at least with respect to interactions with students of other genders/sexes, to initially explore this option.

4) Simply that some/most Yale students have reached a maturity about their ability to manage their living arrangements separately from their amorous activities.

5) Not sure…but one might guess that, initially at least, there might be discord between some students and their parents over a student’s desire for mixed-gender/sex housing.

6) Too early to predict.

 

Jon Wu, SY ’11

Wu is the president of the YCC.

1) The policy will give students more options in the housing process.

2) Advocating the policy was never about whether or not it would be popular. Based on numbers from other schools and from our own research, we knew that not many students would be opting in. Although we understood that Yale could not ensure comfortable living situations for all of its students, the University did have the unique opportunity to provide the possibility of more comfortable living situations. Housing is something that affects a student over the course of an entire year. You must see and interact with your suitemates on a daily basis. Students should have the privilege to live with individuals with whom they feel the most comfortable, regardless of gender. It’s about finding suitemates you’re truly compatible with. Members of the LGBTQ community have taken an active role in advocating for mixed gender housing, but I cannot say that mixed-gender housing will be more favorable with any particular group.

5) If students use good judgment in their housing decisions, for example choosing not to room with a significant other, there will not be any major problems. Every other Ivy League institution that has instituted a mixed gender housing policy has reported a seamless transition.

6. The next step is for the University to allow mixed gender housing for juniors and sophomores. The Fall 2009 Yale College Council proposal recommended mixed-gender housing for all upperclassmen. Specifically because they cannot move off campus, sophomores need this option the most.

<—Previous                                                                                              Next—>

One Response to “Mixed reactions to mixed-gender housing at Yale”