Rutgers to offer co-ed dorms starting in the Fall
VIDEO - "It's like a family, we don't look at each other as a boy and girl, we look at each other as brothers and sisters," said Catina Houchant, a Montclair State junior...
Montclair state junior Dominic Everett showed his on campus apartment he shares with Devon Rogers. She expressed her motivation for wanting to live with a male student.
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“When you come to college you really want to live with someone you really get along with so I thought ‘he’s my best friend so why wouldn’t I want to live with my best friend?” said the junior.
Two other women, all friends, live with them. By next fall, Rutgers University will offer similar arrangements. It is more than just opposite sex co-habitation, it follows the suicide of gay student Tyler Clementi when his intimacy with another male was caught on a webcam. The trauma to Rutgers forces a rethinking.
Now, 3 dorms will allow students to reside with someone of the sex of their choosing – gender neutral.
“I think it’s a great opportunity to learn different things about everybody,” said Michelle Horowitz, a Rutgers sophomore.
However, not everyone approves of the measure. A Rutgers junior, Natasha Gibbs, believes it is not a good idea.
“I mean, we’re in college, it’s already bad enough,” she said.
Back at Montclair State, where just this year there is an openly gay dorm called the Stonewall Suite, Everett and his housemates are more than comfortable.
“It’s like a family, we don’t look at each other as a boy and girl, we look at each other as brothers and sisters,” said Catina Houchant, a Montclair State junior.
For freshman, in these dorms, the policy means if you are LGBT, you can ask for a roommate that is of the same sexual orientation or one who is at least tolerant and understanding.
For sophomores and above, it means that anyone who is straight, gay, or transgender can ask for a roommate by name, of any sex.
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