The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 42, No. 2 - 86

Deborah J. Taub * R. Bradley Johnson * Torry Reynolds

Types of Facilities
The survey question relating to the types of
housing facilities being utilized for genderneutral housing yielded 273 responses from
137 participants (multiple responses were
allowed). GNH, as deﬁned by this study and
Miyamoto (2006), is housing in which a unit
(room, suite, apartment) is not occupied by individuals of the same biological (legal) sex. The
type of housing most commonly used for GNH
was suites or apartments located on the same
ﬂoor or unit (n = 96, 70.07%). Other popular
facilities conﬁgurations were students sharing
common areas within the same room, suite, or
apartment (n = 91, 66.42%) and rooms located
on the same ﬂoor or unit (n = 58, 42.34%).
Less popular conﬁgurations included separate
wings (n = 9, 6.57%) or ﬂoors (n = 12, 8.76%)
within the same building and separate buildings (n = 7, 5.11%) for unmarried students of
different genders and gender identities.

Qualitative Analyses of Policies
Those surveyed were asked to provide their
gender-neutral housing policies if any existed.
Of the 306 institutions that responded, 107
provided information about these policies or
links to these policies. A cross-comparative
analysis of these responses revealed a wide
range of stages of development of GNH policy
from "none," "currently working on," or "still
learning" to very detailed policy statements.
Policies then were analyzed and coded as described above, yielding several themes (Creswell, 2009): eligibility, housing type, the role
of parents, and the problem of roommate departure. There were also policies that ventured
into the realm of being educational. Because
all responses were anonymous, none of the

policies cited here can be attributed to any speciﬁc institution.
Eligibility. It was very common for the policies to address the issue of who was eligible
to live in gender-neutral housing. The most
common restriction related to either age or
class standing. For example, policies stated that
GNH was open to "upperclass students," "nonﬁrst-year students," "sophomores-seniors," or
students ages 18 and over. Some variations included "graduate and older students over the
age of 22" and class standing ("junior/senior").
Occasionally, policies speciﬁed that incoming
transfer students also are ineligible to live in
gender-neutral housing.
Policies also frequently addressed the issue
of romantic couples applying for this housing
option. Typically, policies that address this state
that the GNH option is not intended for romantic couples, but they also make the point,
"However, we respect and honor the privacy
of our students, so current open housing procedures [a synonym for GNH] do not require
students to disclose the reason for their roommate requests."
Less frequently, policies mention LGBT
students speciﬁcally and identify gender-neutral housing as an excellent option for LGBT
students "and for students who believe that
their gender should not factor into their room/
roommate assignment."
Housing type. Sometimes institutions' policies speciﬁed the type of housing that had been
designated gender-neutral:
Gender-neutral/gender-inclusive housing
allows friends of different genders to be
assigned to the same two-room double, suite
or apartment in one of the gender-inclusive
designated residences at [institution] during

THE JOURNAL OF COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY STUDENT HOUSING

The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 42, No. 2

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 42, No. 2