The Brown & White

Lehigh hopes to offer students an on-campus, gender-neutral housing option within the next few years, and a committee is in the process of implementing a plan to get it done.

Gender-neutral housing will be inclusive of transgender and gender nonconforming needs, which will include gender-neutral bathrooms and students being able to choose a roommate of any gender, Timothy Gardner, director of LGBTQIA services, said.

"The gender-neutral housing committee wants to make sure this is going to happen," Gardner said. "Right now, 50 percent of the campuses we compare ourselves to have gender-neutral housing, such as Penn State, Muhlenberg and Bucknell."

It is progress for Lehigh to be in line with the national trends and student needs, he said.

Along with the committee's mission to implement gender-neutral housing, it has used Safe Zone training programs as a way to improve Lehigh's campus climate toward the LGBTQIA community. The Safe Zone project is a series of workshops and educational sessions to help participants better understand the needs and concerns of the LGBTQIA community.

"It's designed to educate and build stronger allies in the community with experiential hands-on learning about heterosexism, history and learning about resources," Gardner said.

Last year, LGBTQIA had Safe Zone training sessions every six weeks, and this year, they will have eight sessions. Because of students' busy schedules, they will begin having night sessions so more students can attend. Each session is three-and-a half hours long and is led by two trained staff members.

Along with the Safe Zone Project, LGBTQIA also offers the Spectrum and In, Out, In Between programs.

Spectrum provides support and social and educational opportunities to those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer or questioning.

In, Out, In Between is a confidential group where students discuss dealing with coming out, share experiences and give and receive advice.

"We're giving people a forum to learn together. We help facilitate discussion that more people, faculty and students should be taking advantage of," Gardner said.

Professors have the opportunity to request safe zone training sessions for their students if they need to cancel a class, but they have not been utilizing this option as much as they could be, Gardner said.

"People come so they can learn; they don't know they're heterosexists, but they come and learn and are able to change their ways," Gardner said. "There is still some strong homophobia and heterosexism on campus. It's more verbal and psychological than physical."

Many students on campus will inappropriately call their friends "gay" or "faggot," and that is seen much more often than physical assaults, he said.

"In the past, alumni have been kicked out of frats for being gay, and I know some had bricks thrown at them," Gardner said. "Alumni can tell horrific stories."

Gardner said the attitude toward the homosexual community is blatantly visible on campus.

"Walk around campus holding a person of the same gender's hand and you'll get your answer about our campus climate," Gardner said.

A "Campus Climate Survey" conducted in 2008 reflected a lack of acceptance at Lehigh.

"We're in tolerance mode. We're on our way to acceptance," Gardner said.

For Lehigh to keep up with the other schools the administration compares it to, students at Lehigh need to attend training sessions and gain the tools to objectively view heterosexism in society, Troccoli said.

Out of 4,856 students at Lehigh, approximately 90 people have participated in Safe Zone training, and, before the program existed, the Women's Center and the Office of Multicultural Affairs conducted discussions open to faculty, staff and students.

Gardner compared the progression toward acceptance of people in the LGBTQIA community to the progression toward the acceptance of people of different races, and said the battle is not much different.

"My position was created, and then they hired me as director of LGBTQIA. It was actually one of the first things Alice Gast did when she came to Lehigh," Gardner said. "Lehigh was in a tough spot when I got here, but we're all seeing progress."

Gardner said the Safe Zone training makes students more aware of diversity at Lehigh and gives them first-hand experience with people who identify as something other than heterosexual.

"You can't unlearn stories you hear during a discussion," Gardner said. "The next time someone says, 'raise your hand if you know someone who is gay,' you will because it's not something that can be erased from your memory."

Gardner said that by the spring, there will be a map online showing all the single stall and gender neutral bathrooms in non-residential buildings.

Safe Zone training has led to the decision to create gender-neutral housing, which will put Lehigh on the same level as some other prestigious universities in this regard.

Gardner said he looks forward to the day when many students can say, "I'm out, Greek, and comfortable."

Clara Troccoli, '12, questioned whether the gender-neutral housing could be used for other purposes.

"If you get to choose the gender of your roommate, would that affect whether or not couples of opposite genders who are in relationships live together?" Troccoli asked.