Temple to Allow Gender-Inclusive Housing this Fall
WRITTEN BY: TAYLOR ALLEN
Temple University will offer gender-inclusive housing beginning in Fall 2017. This means that students can live with other students in campus housing regardless of biological sex, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation. For returning students, these accommodations will be made in Morgan Hall North and Temple Towers. For freshman or first-year students, White and 1940 residence halls will offer it on a case-by-case basis. Students must state their interest via Temple’s online housing application.
Temple will be one of hundreds of colleges and universities around the country that offers this type of housing.
Titus Knox is the Director of Student Affairs for Temple Student Government. As the former president of the Queer Student Union(QSU), he explains that this initiative has been a discussion for awhile.
“My work with QSU was my main lens of where I saw this huge push for gender-inclusive housing,” Knox said. “That’s where I saw this need for gender-inclusive housing.”
Resident assistants will be trained for how to correctly accommodate the needs of students of various gender identities and gender expressions.
Other student organizations who helped pass the initiative include the Residence Hall Association, the Queer Student Union, and the Queer People of Color (QPOC).
QPOC is a student organization known for its advocacy for gender-inclusiveness and intersectionality. Past executive board members have had conversations with Temple’s administration about this issue. Nadia Toro, the vice president of QPOC, explains the reasoning behind her organization’s involvement.
“This is something that affects all marginalized people, so this is not something we could ignore,” Toro said.
Although this initiative was primarily geared toward undergraduate students, graduate students also have this option. The Podiatry Residence Hall will accommodate graduate students on an individual basis.
