Rutgers University is planning to offer gender-neutral housing options in three of its dorms in order to provide options for its gay, lesbian and transgender students. New Jersey’s largest university hopes to make its LGBT students more comfortable on campus. Under the new pilot program, LGBT students will be able to choose either a male or female roommate.
Lest you be playing out the same bad romantic comedy that seems to follow from this scenario in which two straight kids pretend to be gay in order to share a room and comedy ensues, have no fear, heterosexual students will have the same options. Men and women will also share bathrooms.
Rutgers has been under the microscope after freshman Tyler Clementi committed suicide days after his dorm roommate humiliated him by using a webcam to capture and share Clementi in an intimate moment with another man. Joan Carbone, director of Residence Life at Rutgers, explained to The Home News Tribune of East Brunswick that LGBT students had told the school it was difficult to find an accepting roommate. The school hopes this new program will make it easier for kids to feel comfortable in their dorms and less at risk for the kind of tragedy that destroyed Clementi.
