Talking Stick - May/June 2017 - 39

an all-gender housing option for
more than a decade. On a campus of
approximately 1,300 residential spaces,
a majority of which are reserved
for upper-division housing options,
approximately 350 beds are naturally
designed for all-gender living. Just six
years ago, though, Macalester added a
first-year all-gender community which
serves more than a dozen students
annually.
Student-driven from the start, the
culture of social justice and advocacy has been a long tradition within
the Macalester campus community.
Macalester's residential communities
honor the foundations laid so many
years ago and have refined them for
the needs of their students today.
Marketing for the community includes
not only traditional formats but also
an all-gender community forum. The
forum provides an open discussion for
students to learn about the all-gender
community, which has resulted in an
increased number of applicants. There
is great intentionality for incoming
and current students to be aware of allgender living options and to develop
a greater understanding of all-gender
and what that means. The residential
life department works closely with
campus partners, including the department of multicultural life, which is
responsible for cultivating the identity
development of students and identifying their needs as individuals, learners, and members of a global society.
The processes for upper-division
all-gender housing are streamlined
with all of the other specialty living
communities. Students are a part of
every step of the process, from application, selection, and placement to
setting the standards for their community's expectations. The upper-division
housing choices are determined in a
legacy format, where current residents of these communities promote
and then review the applications of
students wishing to live within aall-

THE
EXPECTATION
OF INCLUSIVITY
IS SEAMLESSLY
SUPPORTED
BY FACULTY,
STAFF, AND
STUDENTS ALIKE,
AND IT IS INFUSED
INTO THE
CULTURE AND
CORE VALUES
OF EVERYTHING
THEY DO.

gender community. In the spring the
community comes together to plan
how they would like to live together
in the future and to establish things
like whether or not they should have
regular meetings or if they should
host programs for their area or for the
entire campus.
First-year assignments to the allgender community, however, are based
on the student's preferences and their
interest in the community. Students
who prefer the all-gender community
are eligible to live within it, if they are
not assigned a residential first-year
course.
Macalester's campus is noted as
being very inclusive and demonstrates
it through its More than Words
Campaign, part of which includes
promotion of the understanding, use,
and acknowledgment of appropriate
pronouns. There is intentional training

and education about gender and
identity, and Macalester's aspiration
for excellence and inclusivity is clearly
stated in its mission. This expectation
of inclusivity is seamlessly supported
by faculty, staff, and students alike,
and it is infused into the culture and
core values of everything they do.

Celebrating
Inclusiveness
by Tina Tormey

In the Oscar-nominated film Hidden
Figures, viewers see NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson forced to run
outside to another building in order to
use the black women's restroom. Since
the Trump administration rescinded
protections for transgender students
in public schools, people have been
drawing parallels between segregation in the 1960s and the plight of
transgender students having access to
bathrooms in 2017.
Recently, the Center for LGBT Education, Outreach & Services at Ithaca
College in New York hosted a Hydration Celebration to mark the opening
of a number of all-gender restrooms
across campus. Faculty, staff, and students attended one of two receptions
featuring pastries, a cake decorated
with a buttercream toilet, and ample
amounts of beverages (of course) to
celebrate the fact that transgender
students will not have to relive Johnson's experiences as they seek safe and
appropriate bathrooms. The celebration served multiple roles: to market
the bathrooms, help the community
understand the need for such spaces,
and make connections across campus.
The work to identify, publicize,
and - in many cases - create singleunit restrooms across campus was
a collaboration among a number
of college offices and departments,
including residence life and facilities,
which renovated three floors in one of

MAY + JUNE 2017

Talking Stick - May/June 2017

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