Transgender students have a lot more issues than what meets the eye. Housing in college should not have to be one of them. That is exactly why we have chosen to research Longwood Housing and how we could make it more inclusive to ALL students. Gender Inclusive Housing is a great way to do this. This would mean giving students the freedom to choose who they want to room with, not based on sex or gender.

Believe it or not, we are not the first people come up with this idea. We have interviewed many helpful figures about past, current, and future plans to implement it, benefits that have stemmed from it, and challenges they have had to overcome. We have found that so far the benefits have outweighed the challenges. There has been so much information about this topic even though it’s so new. No matter how long it takes, this is a cause worth fighting for. Every student deserves to have the chance to be happy and comfortable no matter what school they choose to attend.

This is a question often asked by transgendered students, but they aren’t given the choice to decide.

Personal Interview Results

We decided to interview Joe Gonzalez of Duke University Housing, Jex Cox and Josh Blakely of Longwood Housing, and Carl Ridden, the advisor of Longwood University’s Pride Club.

After interviewing the previous people, our team has found one common factor that is holding Longwood University back from implementing gender inclusive housing on campus. That common factor is Virginia’s state law. The law prohibits public institutions from allowing students of the same sex or gender to room together in campus housing.

Everyone we interviewed at Longwood said if it were not for that law, Longwood University would be interested in offering this option to students. However, according to Jen Cox, REC of Off-Campus Longwood, the Co-Habitation Ban has just recently been lifted for Virginia public institutions. This makes it possible for Longwood to now consider allowing this policy. 

Another main point coming from the interviews is that gender inclusive housing has to be something that Longwood students are ready for. It is important that everyone is on the same page (students, faculty/staff, and parents). By implementing a gender inclusive housing community, it will also lead to educating the rest of the public at Longwood University (J.Cox, personal communication. 2014).

After speaking with Joe Gonzales of Duke Housing, he was able to attest that they have seen many benefits of gender inclusive housing. He also stated that in the five years Duke has had this policy, there have been ZERO challenges. He has stated “…that they are already in the process of expanding their gender inclusive housing because it has gone over so well” (J. Gonzales, personal communication. 2014).

LU Policies

Longwood isn’t alone- 29 states have failed to protect the LGBT community to prohibit discrimination. Even if VA isn’t ahead of the game, Longwood can step in by prohibiting ANY form of discrimination on campus.

Longwood University, in compliance with Virginia state law, currently has a policy in place which prohibits students who are not of the same sex from living together in university managed housing.

Outlook

If this issue is not fixed in the future, there could be many problems for Longwood’s transgender students. Unfortunately, Longwood students have yet to experience the luxury of gender inclusive housing. If the rise of gender inclusive housing on college campuses continues, it could definitely set Longwood apart from other schools in a negative way. Students might choose to go to other schools due to the freedom they offer. If Longwood DOES change, then as far as we know it could only benefit the students.

This short video is an example of a student from another school. We would never want Longwood to have this reputation or go through this battle like this college campus did. Hopefully we can fix the problem before it happens and blows up this big.