Conference Sparks Open-Gender Housing Interest
In response to the growing concern for non-gender specific living arrangements on campus, English instructors Ellee Dean and Alex Myers, Dean of Academic Affairs Karen Geary and Director of Student Activities Joanne Lembo, attended the Creating Change conference last weekend in Chicago. At the conference, the four faculty members gained insight into and a greater understanding of gender identity in academic institutions and hope to use their newly gained knowledge to enact change in the Exeter community.
The LGBTQ plus task force is an organization whose mission is to mobilize and support gender-expansive civil rights activists around the globe. They founded the Creating Change Conference 27 years ago, after the 1987 Second National March on Washington for lesbian and gay rights. Since then, the conference has grown to over 3,500 attendees from schools and organizations across the United States and supports 350 workshops during its five-day program.
“If the goal of our community is to say that, whatever your gender identity, you should take full part in residential life, to me, the only possible solution is then to create housing that is not done just based upon the binary of gender.”
This year’s conference focused on intersectionality. It aimed not only to look at gender equality and civil rights, but also to examine how the LGBTQ plus community is involved in other pertinent social issues such as race, disability and immigration.
Lembo introduced the Creating Change Conference to Exeter administration and faculty earlier this year. She recruited faculty members on campus to partake in the ongoing LGBTQ plus dialogue by attending the conference and successfully organized a group of four who were committed to taking part in the conference.
At the program, Dean, Myers, Geary and Lembo participated in multiple workshops related to gender expansive students in the academic environment. Seminars discussed gender and race, transgender housing, LGBTQ plus activism and nuances in gender expansive language. Through these workshops, Geary said, the faculty were able to “grow” in their knowledge of the LGBTQ plus community by “understanding the language around gender and the privilege that [we] have,” while also learning how to encourage and support student and faculty LGBTQ plus activism to create change.
The four faculty members expressed their excitement in returning to Exeter, ready to broaden and enhance the discussion of the LGBTQ plus community on campus. Currently, one of the most prominent issues that the four see for gender expansive students is the current housing system.
In this system, students are, for the most part, strictly separated in their living situation based on what Myers coined “stereotypical sex.” Although some students such as upper Lauren Wilson believe that the current housing system has done well in accommodating for gender expansive individuals by “giving students a say in their living situations,” others still think that these arrangements, as Myers said, “marginalizes and makes students vulnerable in certain ways,” by forcing transgender students to live in a binary system.
There are two possible solutions that have been raised thus far in respect to the housing of gender expansive students on campus. The first possibility is the creation of houses for non-gender specific students at Exeter. Senior Lucy Weiler said this solution would eliminate much of the “discomfort for transgender students, especially those who ‘come out’ during their time here.” However, Weiler continued, many still “fear the separation that trans-exclusive houses would cause between transgender students and the rest of the student body.”
The second option would be the creation of non-gender specific dorms. Myers argued that this would be the best approach to solving this issue on campus. “If the goal of our community is to say that, whatever your gender identity, you should take full part in residential life, to me, the only possible solution is then to create housing that is not done just based upon the binary of gender,” he said.
Nonetheless, Myers also recognized the attachment that many people have to the old systems of living at Exeter and the apprehension that will occur from introducing a system in which males, females and gender expansive students are living together.
According to Geary, the situation is, overall, complicated and will require a lot of time and care to come up with a viable solution that fits the needs of the community. “Clearly, we want to make a dorm safe for everybody, but there are lots of reasons that would make it hard,” Geary said. “We hope to handle these problems as they come and I feel as though we can do that. It is important to remember that just because it’s hard doesn’t mean we should drag our feet.”
Mischke hoped that the reforms in housing systems will be only the first step in the recognition and enhancement of the LGBTQ plus community on campus. “It’s not going to be enough for us to just stop at the dress code,” Dean of Students Melissa Mischke said. “There is a lot more work to be done, and I am excited to be apart of it.”
Many students agreed. Lower Nik Stork said there are still multiple issues that must be addressed, especially in relation to the education of students and faculty about the LGBTQ plus community at Exeter in order to create a more understanding PEA environment.
The Academy may address these issues in the future, but for now the school will seek solutions within the binary housing system currently in place. Lembo said, “Many of our transgender and gender expansive students often feel marginalized or invisible. Having policy [for housing] not only creates a space for these students but [shows that] the Academy believes that all students should have the right to live as their authentic selves.”
Contributions from Daisy Tichenor