Whitman offers its students a wide variety of housing options, including interest houses, mixed-gender sections and traditional college residence halls. In spite of these offerings, there is currently no opportunity for first-years to live with a roommate of the opposite gender. Though this may not be a concern for many students, first-year Dena Wessel is determined to change the housing policy.

“By the time I graduate, I want to see gender-neutral housing at Whitman,” she said.

Many other colleges, including Columbia and Dartmouth, offer gender-neutral housing to students. Policies vary from school to school: some only provide this housing option for upperclassmen. Whitman’s official policy is to allow co-ed rooms for any student living on campus who is not a first-year, as long as their parents sign a letter notifying them of their child’s living situation.

“Whitman’s policy is not conservative by any means,” said Wessel. “It’s just not completely there.”

Specifically, Wessel says she would like to see a co-ed section with co-ed rooms as an option for first-year students.

“As a transgender, genderqueer or gender non-conforming freshman, you’re basically forced to out yourself to Residence Life to find comfortable and safe housing at Whitman,” she said.

Although a co-ed rooming option isn’t available for first-year students, the Residence Life Office is clear that they work to accommodate all students when assigning housing.

“I can’t think in recent years of anyone’s who’s identified as transgender and approached us with concerns about their housing,” said Sean Gehrke, assistant director of residence life and housing. “We’d explore that as it came up.”

Gehrke acknowledges that the current policy requires trans students to come out to Residence Life if they have concerns about their housing situation.

“I think that’s beneficial in a way because it allows us to make sure that their needs are being met,” he said. “[Requesting a single] is always an option for people.”

Nancy Tavelli, director of residence life and housing, pointed out that many of Whitman’s buildings were designed for single-gender occupancy.

“Our bathrooms are not well set-up for co-ed or transgender sections,” she said. In schools where housing was built with gender-neutrality in mind, bathrooms often have separate changing rooms or other features to allow for better privacy.

According to her, housing at Whitman was entirely single-gender within residence halls until the 1980s. Then single-gender sections  co-existing in the same building  became the norm. Jewett’s fourth floor mixed-gender sections have been introduced within the last decade.

Issues like floor layout have presented problems for further efforts to make Whitman housing gender-neutral. For example, the fourth floor of Jewett has two mixed-gender sections with two bathrooms, one of which is designated male and one female. Discussions of making the bathrooms gender-neutral came up early this semester.

“When it was two in the morning and I had to walk over [to the other bathroom], it was heinous,” said first-year 4-west resident Joey Kern. “There is no excuse for that kind of preposterousness.”

The two sections discussed making both bathrooms completely gender-neutral, but not all residents were comfortable with this option. Eventually, a compromise was reached, where both bathrooms are gender-neutral from 10pm to 6am. These hours allowed people who had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night to use the bathroom closest to their room, while maintaining single-gender bathrooms during the morning when most people were showering.

“It’s a step on the way there,” said Wessel about the arrangement. “People have to get more comfortable with it.”

In Lyman House, all sections are co-ed and have male, female and co-ed bathrooms. Lyman Resident Director Andrew Johnson sees this arrangement as more friendly to gender non-conforming students.

“Given the layout of the building, it’s pretty easy to accommodate everyone,” he said.

Many first-year Lyman students weren’t aware of the co-ed bathrooms before they arrived on campus.

“You kind of do a double-take and are like, ‘Oh, there are guys in my bathroom,'” said first-year Ariel Carter-Rodriguez. However, she says she adjusted quickly and finds the co-ed bathrooms a non-issue.

Johnson feels that it’s important to keep all students’ needs in mind when considering gender-neutral bathrooms.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily right to make all bathrooms gender-neutral,” he said, referring to students who might be uncomfortable with a co-ed bathroom. “However, if someone’s questioning their gender, they may not know which bathroom to use and I think that’s why it’s important to have that option.”