(NAME-MCE) Momentum for Gender Neutrality

[Anselmo Villanueva]

For better format and several related stories, go to:

http://insidehighered.com/news/2007/08/27/gender

August 27, 2007

Momentum for Gender Neutrality

While only a small minority of colleges have added gender identity to
their anti-bias policies or created gender-neutral dormitories or
bathrooms, the movement to do so is growing, especially in the
Northeast and among elite universities, according to a report being
released today.

The GENIUS Index (for Gender Equality National Index for Universities
and Schools) found that:

    * 147 colleges and universities have added gender identity and
expression to their non-discrimination policies.
    * 141 colleges and universities have created some gender neutral
bathrooms, frequently private bathrooms that students can use without
fear of being judged as being in the wrong bathroom based on the way
others view the students' identity.
    * 30 colleges and universities have created options for
gender-neutral housing, in which the norm for roommates is not
presumed to be someone of the same sex.

Policies such as those highlighted in the report have been an emerging
goal of transgender students on campus and their supporters, who say
that people who don't fit into standard gender categories face not
only discrimination, but threats of violence.

The Gender Public Advocacy Coalition, which pushes for policies in
educational institutions and the workplace that allow people "to
learn, grow and succeed — whether or not they meet expectations for
masculinity and femininity" — produced the study.

The report notes that these policies are almost always relatively
recent and were unheard of just a decade ago. The adoption of such
policies is still sufficiently new that a college's actions on
creating a new restroom may attract news coverage, as was the case
this weekend with the new student center at the University of Vermont
would feature some gender-neutral bathrooms.

While the report notes that the gender-neutral movement is attracting
support at all kinds of institutions, it also acknowledges the role
played by regions and elites in higher education. Of colleges that
have amended anti-bias policies, for example, 43 percent are in the
Northeast while only 5 percent are from the South. All the Ivy League
institutions have amended their anti-bias policies, as have two-thirds
of a list of the top 25 universities in the country.

The emphasis on the policies of elite universities mirrors the
strategy used by proponents of domestic partnership benefits. By
noting that such benefits are the norm at elite universities,
proponents at institutions that aspire to be top research universities
have won over skeptics by talking about the benefits as a way to be
competitive in recruiting faculty talent. The strategy has had
numerous successes, but has run into some obstacles recently because
of anti-gay marriage measures enacted in some states.

Brittney Hoffman, youth coordinator for the Gender Public Advocacy
Coalition, said that the report's emphasis reflected a range of goals.
Inclusion in anti-bias rules is an essential "top level" policy, while
gender-neutral bathrooms and dormitories are what students want to
improve "the day to day lived experiences on campus."

Hoffman said that the issue should be framed as being about safety. "A
lot of gender non-conforming youth experience harassment in choosing a
restroom, and really suffer this sobering anxiety in making a decision
about a bathroom that for the vast majority of the population is
really simple," she said. "They have to ask, Which bathroom is going
to be safest for me right now?" And when those students are in hostile
situations in a dorm, the situation is only compounded, she said.

Gender-neutral bathrooms and dormitories don't just help transgender
students, Hoffman said. Gay students, male-female couples or friends
or siblings who want to live together, and other students can also
benefit. Hoffman stressed that her organization was not pushing to
convert all bathrooms or to change all dormitory policies. It's fine
to have gender-specific housing and bathrooms, she said, as long as
other options are provided. In cases of gender-neutral rooms, she said
both roommates should be among those requesting such rooms.

To date, the policies on gender neutrality have not prompted major
culture war outbreaks, although that may be in part because the issue
is relatively new and hasn't been pushed in culturally conservative
parts of the country. On Phi Beta Cons, the higher education blog of
National Review, the issue has come up periodically and been mocked.
Last year, the blog took note of a campaign for transgender bathrooms
at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the developments of a
symbol for doors of such bathrooms at a Unitarian seminary in
California by writing: "This debate gives a whole new meaning to the
expression, 'Get your head out of the toilet.' "

Hoffman said she was aware that some people didn't view her goals with
sympathy. "These are very new issues for some people," she said. "But
look at how many colleges have changed recently. This movement is
taking off."