Last month, a transgender student at Southern Utah University named Kourt Osborn was turned away from the all-male dorm residence hall where he wanted to live. Born a female, Osbourn identifies himself as a male and has had hormone treatments, but not a surgical procedure to complete the transition. So, according to the university, Osborn doesn’t qualify to live in the men’s dorm. He is, however, welcome to remain in the all-female dorm where he had previously lived. \nAs a result of the university’s decision, Osborn has gone public with his case and filed a grievance. His current plans are to live off-campus, but his preference would be to live in an all-male dorm. The university has responded that the use of communal bathrooms in dorms could potentially make other students – or the parents of other students – uncomfortable living alongside Osborn. \nAdvocacy groups for transgender individuals have spoken up about the situation. For example, the campus director of the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition, Brittney Hoffman, is planning to formally object to the university’s policy.\nIt seems the easiest solution to this problem would be for more universities to provide gender-neutral housing, which seems to be the top request of transgender students. We encourage all universities, especially public, to consider building new dorms or reassigning floors to create gender-neutral housing options whenever they would normally schedule building new dorms or reassigning floors. \nHowever, we are wary of universities being forced to make unreasonable accommodations for the preferences of transgender individuals immediately. universities should not be required to allow biological females to live in all-male residences, and vice-versa. Transgender individuals, like Osborn, choose to go to certain universities knowing the housing options and presumably knowing they might run into problems with them. Osborn was not made any promises about housing when applying to Southern Utah University and could have anticipated resistance about moving into an all-male dorm. It seems a bit unfair to be claiming entitlement to something he was never promised in the first place. For the moment, his best bet is to live off campus, as he has planned.
DISSENT:
No matter your personal convictions, it’s easy to see that Kourt Osborn has not received a fair shake from the University. Even though transgendered people make up a small percentage of the population, denying Osborn’s request sends a message of intolerance. Some will claim that Osborn’s presence in a male dorm disrupts the educational experiences of students. I would contend that the rampant homophobia in our society is doing the real damage to our students. \nPerhaps most troubling about the case is the school’s demand that Osborn provide “proof” of his sex change operation in order to receive accommodation. This absurd stipulation should concern us all, transgendered or not. Who’s to say that schools won’t soon require all students to take pictures of their genitalia in order to “document” their gender? While surely a far-fetched scenario, this case highlights the danger of continuing to place emphasis on a socially-constructed concept like gender.
-Indira Dammu
