My Roommate, My Choice

With any luck—and a modicum of respect for campus opinion on the part of the University—students will soon be able to live with whomever they choose, regardless of their roommates’ gender. On Sunday, the Undergraduate Council (UC) passed, with a single “nay” vote, a bill recommending that consensual mixed-gender rooming be an option available to all upperclassmen. Sunday’s legislation is long overdue and provides an excellent opportunity for the Committee on House Life (CHL) to act to quickly to eliminate outmoded provisions in Harvard’s housing policy.

Under the current policy, students’ ability to live in mixed-gender rooming situations is limited to special situations at the discretion of the individual House Masters. Policies vary widely from house to house, and the logic behind each house’s particular policy is equally inconsistent. The UC’s Rooming Choice Act calls for much needed uniformity across houses: a rooming group’s ability to live in a mixed-gender suite should be based on explicit consent from all parties, not particular architectural barriers. Under the proposed system, mixed-gender housing would not be the default condition but would be a possibility for everyone. We believe it is an option that every student deserves.

Given the importance of housing to our college experience, it is only reasonable to ensure that all students can live with the people that they care about and are comfortable around. For many students this will involve living in single-gender suites, but for others it will not.

There are many worthwhile reasons that students may have for living in a mixed-gender room. Bisexual, gay, and lesbian students may prefer mixed-gender housing for the same reasons that motivate some straight students to prefer gender-segregated housing. Married heterosexual couples may prefer to live together on campus rather than choose between living together off-campus or in separate rooms on campus. Transgender students may prefer to be housed according to their own gender preference without having to lobby House Masters and administrators for special housing accommodations. Some students may wish to simply live with a close friend of a different gender with whom they feel comfortable. All of these situations, however, are inherently neglected by Harvard’s outdated and inflexible housing policy, which piles too many layers of bureaucracy on any mixed-gender housing request.

We envision that some people who choose to live in a mixed-gender suite will inevitably regret that decision. But under the current policy many students are forced into regrettable housing situations without the benefit of consent. That gender-segregated housing prevents students from living with whom they are most comfortable is reason enough for the administration to change the policy.

Opponents of mixed-gender housing raise the issue of sexual assault, which is an extraordinarily important issue in its own right. But in the context of choosing roommates, this argument is flawed. Susan Marine, the director of the Office for Sexual Assault Prevention and Response, has reviewed research on the matter and has found no relationship between the type of housing an institution allows and the rate of occurrence of sexual violence. Marine feels that offering such an option would not contribute to increased sexual violence and would likely enable better relationships between students of all genders. Moreover, Leslie Delauter, the director of college houses and academic services at the University of Pennsylvania, which recently established a policy to include mixed-gender housing, reports that Penn has not seen any increase in sexual-assault-related problems due to the availability of mixed-gender housing. Based on these findings, we have no reason to believe that the situation would be any different at Harvard.

There may be alumni, parents, and a portion of the public that does not approve of mixed-gender housing. We would like to remind the College administration, however, that this is our housing and not theirs. Just as their opinions on vegetarianism ought not to dictate our dining hall offerings, nor should their opinions on housing dictate our suitemates. As for the slim minority of students who oppose mixed-gender housing, there is the obvious solution of their continuing to room in single-gender suites.

Allowing mixed-gender suites is an easy and painless way to improve student life on campus. We hope that the CHL and the House Masters will do everything in their power to implement this change in time for the quickly approaching spring housing lottery.