The Department of Resident life is expanding their gender inclusive housing to create a better living climate for students who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ).
The Campus Assessment Working Group (CAWG) sent out a survey in 2011 asking students about how they feel around a LGBTQ student in different areas of their lives. CAWG is a group that uses their data and assessment collected to help make decisions on campus.
The data concluded that the more personal a situation, the less comfortable people felt, according to a research analyst for CAWG, Emily Weir. As a classmate, 85 percent of people said they felt comfortable with a LGBTQ student, but only 45 percent of people said they felt comfortable with a LGBTQ roommate.
Students in ENGL101 or UNIV100 took these surveys said it is important to remember that these students were mostly freshman and she thinks that they chose an answer without thinking too much into it, according to CAWG.
People reported from the same survey that they felt like were more accepting of the LGBTQ community than their peers would be. When asked if the University of Maryland is a welcoming environment, 59 percent of people said yes.
Erin Iverson from the Department of Resident Life said the LGBTQ community is the reason for this new movement for University of Maryland to have Mixed Gender and Gender Inclusive Housing (MGGIH). Then, the LGBTQ community hosted a forum that pushed this new type of housing.
The goal of the MGGIH residence program is to make people feel safe and welcomed in their community, according to the Department of Resident Life.
In 2012 the gender inclusive committee was established and they began to come up with ideas for making people feel more comfortable in their own living arrangements. This year began the new MGGIH pilot program, which allows people of mixed genders to share a bathroom or opt to live in neighboring rooms.
“I think the option to live on campus with people from a different gender is really beneficial,” sophomore communications major Sarah Horowitz said. “I think that people even if they are not LGBTQ should have the option to live with who they want.”
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Only juniors and seniors could live in this new housing situation in 2013 and these students could only live in South Campus or the Courtyards. In the coming school year, freshman will be permitted to live in this new type of housing. There will be one floor designated for MGGIH residences in Cambridge, Denton and Ellicott Communities. There will also be space in Carroll and Caroline Hall.
To live in a MGGIH situation, students must complete an online training program to have access to the rooms. You must complete this training to live in a gender- neutral environment, even for those students living in Prince Frederick Hall.
A little over 400 students lived in MGGIH residence this year and 65 percent of people surveyed said that their experience was better. The results from the survey were more positive than people even expected, according to CAWG.