DISSENT: A Misplaced Priority

Gender-neutral housing is not an altogether bad idea. Though unconventional, it expands student choice in living situations, and if living with roommates of different genders improves a student’s quality of life, then by all means, students should be allowed to do so.

We depart from the Staff, however, in their belief that transgender students should receive priority for gender-neutral housing. The problem of insufficient gender-neutral housing will not be alleviated by prioritizing the interests of transgender students over the rest of the student body. Apart from the fact that doing so would be unfair—transgender students, after all, do not absolutely require special preference in the same sense that physically disabled students do—it could drive a major wedge between transgender students and the rest of the student body.

If it is tolerance we are striving for on campus, then a scenario in which transgender students live apart from their classmates would be counterproductive. Such a move would effectively segregate the transgender population from the rest of Harvard by forcing transgender students to publicly identify as gender-neutral individuals. This scenario could unfairly subject these students to even further alienation and prejudice than previously existed.

Given that mixed gender housing is a matter of desire and not a matter of dire need, prioritizing a single group’s interest over the rest of the student body’s would be a step backward on the part of college administrators. Separate is never equal—it is minority interests, in fact, who should know this best. By prioritizing the needs of the transgender community in assigning residences, the housing honchos would be doing a disservice to the entire student body.



Lucy M. Caldwell ’09, a Crimson editorial editor, is a history and literature concentrator in Adams House. Vanessa J. Dube ’10, a Crimson editorial editor, lives in Wigglesworth Hall.