Remember that New Jersey school called Rutgers University? The one where gay student Tyler Clementi killed himself because his roommate and his roommate’s friend are (allegedly!) complete mothershits? Well now it’s joining colleges like George Washington University in offering students co-ed housing, eliminating those nasty penis- and vagina-only barriers that most campus residences enforce. For now the gender-neutral housing option is just a pilot program beginning in the fall, with three dorms going blind to what’s between your legs. Officially the change is a way to provide LGBT students with more comfortable living options (like letting gay Joey live with his fag hag Margaret), but straight students should also support it because, hey, ass is ass. How’s it gonna work?
At Rutgers, the pilot program will be limited to Demarest Hall on the College Avenue Campus, New Gibbons on the Douglass Campus and some apartments in Rockoff Hall, a 12-story building in downtown New Brunswick. Students will get into the dorms through the student housing lottery, campus officials said. Then, students will be given the option of naming a roommate of either sex. Parents will not be permitted to veto their children’s roommates. Undergraduates will not be asked to reveal if they are gay. “We’re not asking students their relationships,” said Joan Carbone, the university’s executive director of residence life. “People should not have to declare their sexual preference to us.”
But you probably should to your roommate, because I’d hate to see things get awkward with Margaret once she realizes that no, Joey does not love her back in the same way.
RJ
Seriously. It’s about time that we as a species evolved beyond hesitation to separate the genders.
If it’s good enough for Starship Troopers and Battlestar Gallactica, there’s no reason why men and women can’t share general facilities in a responsible manner.
Gender divides in locker room, bathroom, communal living settings, etc. are antiquated. As an intelligent species, we should be above that.
prohomo
Nope, not a good idea. It won’t work, nor do I think it appropriate.
DJ
Really?… I got accepted here for this fall but I’m not sure if I’m going or not. But if I do, I ain’t stayin in a co-ed dorm. Half naked boys, I’m all for it lol. But if any of that Tyler Clementi shit goes down I won’t be jumping off any bridges, I’d find out how to throw his ass off a bridge.
Bart
@RJ: +1
EdWoody
My first roommate in college was a straight boy. I wasn’t interested in him at all. When I got a boyfriend I ended up spending most of my time at his house, and the roommate mostly had our room to himself. So it worked out great for both of us.
DJ
@EdWoody: Not really. You wasted money on a dorm :/
Denise
“Rutger’s Gender-Neutral Housing Is Great For LGBT Students. And Straight Ones Too!”
This headline makes no sense. The vast majority of “transgendered” students ARE straight, so they should be included with the “straight ones too” not the gay students referenced in the first sentence of the headline.
Mindless politically correct blogs, always looking to replace “gay” with “LGBT,” pretend to forget that transgendereds are not defined by their sexual orientation and the vast majority of them share the same sexual orientation as the straightest man or woman in Idaho.
missanthrope
@Denise:
While I agree that many trans people are straight and some of those striaghts trans people don’t feel much connection to anything GLB, I feel sweeping generalizations that the “vast majority” of trans people are straight not reflective of my experience in the trans community.
In my experience it’s more of even straight/bi/gay mix with each taking a third of the people I’ve met within the community.
Yuki
@Denise:
I don’t understand what you’re going on about; transgender students aren’t mentioned in this. By straight students it means “Hey, if you choose to room with some girl you can bang, WOOHOO!”, I think.
I’m pretty sure this is true, but just for clarification:
In this program, the college will assign random same-sex roommates, or allow students to pick their own roommate of either sex, correct? It wouldn’t toss a random guy with a random girl?
gregger
@Denise: Most of Queerty’s headlines are either grammatically incorrect or flat out nonsensical. Just look between the turds they vomit up and you’ll find some info. It’s not the editors fault, blame it on the US school systems teaching to test.
Chuck L
Then there are those of us who quite serendipitously got paired with another gay (though closeted–until I bought him out) roommate that we ended up sleeping with. That was convenient! Until we broke up…I would not recommend sharing a dorm room with your ex! Now straight folks can experience that, too!
If people have a reason to want to share dorm rooms with their opposite-sex best friend, I guess it’s fine with me, but bathrooms and for God’s sake, showers need to stay single sex. I knew plenty of people (gay and straight) in college 25 years ago who moved off campus with an opposite sex (platonic) roommate, though they did not literally share a ROOM with them as in this case.
I keep hearing this as a “triumph for gay (GLB, whatever) rights”, though I would really think the heteros would be more excited about it, in the long run. Not sure why it’s a “gay” issue except for the fag + fag hag combinations mentioned above.
Chuck L
^”brought him out”, not BOUGHT him out!!
CJ Maciejeski
@DJ: Most universities require first year undergraduates to pay for a dorm for the first year.
Meanwhile, i also find the gender segregation ridiculous. As university students, we are, supposedly, adults.
And as if the segregated dorms prevent any kind of ungodly fornicating or sinful premarital impregnation.