In an all-campus email sent moments ago, VSA President Jimmy Kelly '09 announced that the Senior Officers have approved the gender-neutral housing proposal. The approval from Cappy and her crew was the last step in bringing gender-neutral housing to Vassar.Coincidentally, today marks The Transgender Day of Remembrance.
According to the email, the new policy will go into effect for this Spring.
As we previously posted, Cappy hinted at the approval earlier this week at the Joss "town hall" meeting.
Vassar now joins the list of about 25 schools that offer gender-neutral housing, including Brown, Columbia, Harvard, and Wesleyan.
23 comments:
\o/
hey respire, what does that smiley mean? never figured it out.
its like "rock on." its supposed to be the bullhorns thing.
http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~kennedy/img/rock_hand.png
that.
its like "rock on." its supposed to be the bullhorns thing.
http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~kennedy/img/rock_hand.png
that.
It's a figure cheering, both arms raised. The rock on emote is \m/
i just hope we don't publicize this policy to prospective students. the last thing vassar needs is an even bigger reputation for being supportive of weird gender choices.
why do we keep doing things just because other schools are doing them? If this mentality was around back in the '60s we would have merged with Yale.
OMG I'm so sick of people making a big deal out of everything. Gender neutral housing doesn't effect you if you don't want it to so just chill. And "the last thing vassar needs is an even bigger reputation for being supportive of weird gender choices"? BE PROUD that we're part of making history for people who have a hard time fitting in to what we define as gender. Sure, lots of schools have done this before so we're not doing something groundbreaking, but it's a step in acceptance.
that "gender neutral" sign seems to look like the woman sign, only the woman is standing in a very windy are, LOL
I agree with 1:08. Vassar needs to check back into its roots as an originally all-women's college. I feel as if the school is losing this vital part of its history.
3:45 screw that. that sad part of Vassar's history is over. we're a real school now, and we need to cut all this gender crap out of our reputation. we need MORE strong men to enter into Vassar and overturn our embarrassing reputation for being a school for girls and gays.
3:55... it must suck being a straight single girl here, huh? So sorry, but now you can room with your best gay friend and steal away his "well-he's-bicurious" dates hahaha
3:55, get out.
3:55 is unintentionally funny. "Strong men"? She or he means big burly hairy macho men who crush beer cans on their heads? First of all we already have some of those. But seriously, .. funny.
I would like to ask 3:55 and anyone who shares those views why s/he feels threatened by Vassar having a reputation for being supportive of women and gay people. If not threatened, then why uncomfortable? As an alumnus of Vassar, that is one of the things about which I am most proud. It is an honor to be associated with a college, perhaps the first college, to offer a really rigorous and empowering education to women. There is nothing "sad" about that part of Vassar's history, and the enactment of gender-neutral housing is no different. In my opinion the real "sad" thing is the perception that standing up for people at the margins and having a reputation for it is a bad thing. You are entitled to your opinion, but I'll admit that it disappoints me greatly.
Morgan Warners'08
Accepting of minorities and groups like that is fine, so long as it's clear that Vassar is not some strange far left-ist school PURELY for gays and gals.
Morgan- I agree that Vassar should be proud of its distant past as one of the first all-girls institutions. And it should also be accepting of gay people, obviously. But neither of those two ideas should define us as a college. I'd much rather that we be known as a school for smart people than a school for gay or female people.
and we aren't already?
Yeah Vassar is a "small-ivy" not the gay school. Besides, intelligence and talent goes beyond sexuality. Of all the things that define a person, I think the world sees you for your talents, not for whom you sleep with. I'm not saying sexuality doesn't matter but in a way it shouldn't. The world has begun to reach beyond race, religion, etc, and sexuality is another obstacle in seeing a person for their character.
we ARE known as a school for smart people. the only thing that might make people think otherwise is looking at obnoxious, ignorant comments on this blog. be proud of being part of a unique, accepting, intelligent community-- who gives a fuck how others may (inaccurately) perceive us?
anyway, it could be so much worse-- at least you don't go to hampshire, you know?
it matters a great deal how people perceive us. if they think that our college is defined by weird sexualities where such practices are the norm, compared to society at large, then applicants are more likely to go to other schools. and i would hate to lose a single straight male because we gave off the impression that we weren't tolerant of anything that wasn't atypical.
I belong to a sizable college forum and, overall, the perception on there is that Vassar is a very prestigious school for intelligent, intellectual people who also happen to be open, accepting, LGBT-friendly, and liberal (particularly from a social standpoint). Overall, I would say that's a nice reputation to have... as 1:21 pm brought up, the only time I saw questions that contradicted this image was last year when several users on the forum saw the boredat site.
"The world has begun to reach beyond race, religion, etc, and sexuality is another obstacle in seeing a person for their character." And numerous professors commence squirming in their seats.
"if they think that our college is defined by weird sexualities where such practices are the norm, compared to society at large, then applicants are more likely to go to other schools." Based on the fact that Vassar has yet to encounter massive boycotts due to intolerance of such practices, I think my alma mater need not worry about a thing. Besides, given that there was never a dire shortage of "straight males" enrolled at Vassar at any given time ("worthy" straight males based on the high standards of our female population is a different matter altogether), I don't think we can use "straight male" as a measure both of extent of weirdness that we are allowed to achieve or the kind of identity we should have. If there are any straight males out there who do not want the kind of shit Vassar offers, I think we will be better off not having them in the first place. Thankfully, straight guys don't all think the same.
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