Syracuse Housing to Allow Opposite Sexes to Be Roommates
Syracuse University has plenty of gender-neutral dormitories on its campus. That's not so surprising—many colleges and universities across the country have the same types of dormitories. What is making news, however, is Syracuse's recent decision to allow gender-neutral suites on campus, the Daily Orange reports.
The pilot program will start next fall. Seventy-four two-bedroom suites will be open to students who wish to have a roommate of the opposite sex, the report says. Students who want to be included in gender-neutral housing will still participate in the university's regular process, and they won't receive priority over other students looking for traditional housing.
"If it's truly gender-neutral, then your gender selection choice of roommate shouldn't have an impact, one way or the other," Terra Peckskamp, interim director of Syracuse's Office of Residence Life, tells the Daily Orange.
Amit Taneja of Syracuse's LGBT Resource Center says the university shouldn't decide who lives where, but he was happy with the sign of progress.
"At the end of the day, this policy is coming as a result of the request made by students and parents," Taneja tells the Daily Orange. "And it's just one of many different options that will be available to students to best meet their housing needs.
"It's a sign of changing times. We know our students are already doing that when they go off campus. People want to live with their friends—that's what it's about."
The report says resident advisers with gender-neutral suites on their floors will be given extra training to prepare for potential "nontraditional conflicts."
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Reader Comments
It's All About Good Communication
This will be an interesting social experiment. Regardless of gender, good roommates communicate, compromise, establish rules, clean up after themselves, make sure their roommate feels comfortable, and keep realistic expectations. The secret to a good roommate relationship is good communication.
Evan Silverman
CEO
William Paid
www.williampaid.com
"a resource for renters and roommates"
rebuttal of previous comment
I am a 28 year old female and I have had a few male roommates in my time. Only one of those was a bona fide committed relationship. I would like to say that not all college students are obsessed with easily obtained sex with a roommate. If that were the case, we would see a rise in college aged homosexuals. Some of us are just more confortable with friends (that's FRIENDS, not casual shag partner) of the opposite gender. My husband of three years has more female friends than I and I have more male friends that are close than he does. None of these relationships are sexual. To place a sexual connotation on any roommates sets one up for a self fufilling prophecy. Perhaps if we embraced differences in friendships and truly understood our own relationship and safe sexual needs, this would be more of a non issue. But, leave it to those who think grown man + grown woman (left alone in a room)obviously = rampant sex, to mess up real and long standing gender neutral relationships. Is this still the dark ages? I must have missed that memo.
Prepare for the coming baby boom...
Not so smart. Look. I'm a college sophomore and I believe in student rights, but I also believe in responsibility, so I just have one question: Has the leadership at Syracuse ever taken a sex-ed class in their lives? In the words of Dr. William Cosby, "Come on, people!"
It's true that sexual activity goes on away from campus and has been happening on-campus for as long as there's been co-ed education. However, it's never been virtually INVITED on campus until now. Put a guy and a girl together in the same bedroom and something unexplainable happens. It's been the whole idea behind having separate dorms for males and females for generations.
Still don't believe this is a bad idea? Here's just a partial list of what Syracuse (and the legions of colleges that are sure to follow suit)can expect from this idiocy:
1. Increased incidents of SEXUAL HARASSMENT and SEXUAL ASSAULT
2. more LAWSUITS against colleges for sexual harassment and sexual assault
3. large increase of unintended PREGNANCY
4. large increase in ABORTION RATES among students
5. higher occurrences in STDs, including HIV
6. higher DROP-OUT RATES for students due to pregnancy, childcare issues, or disease
So congratulations, Syracuse. I'm sure there are kids who will choose your school just because they know they can shack up in a dorm room with the school's blessings. I hope you all are prepared for the consequences.
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