The College Fix

Mixed-sex housing at UNC Chapel Hill is in jeopardy.

Legislators have slipped a proviso in a Senate budget bill to block it from happening. It still needs to pass the House for approval. A vote is expected later this month.

Meanwhile, students have jumped in to defend the cause.

“If transgender students would prefer to have their own bathroom, we are completely content with this idea. But it would be more inconspicuous, and possibly safer, if a transgendered male goes into a female’s bathroom, because they associate with that gender,” stated an editorial by The East Carolinian, the campus newspaper at East Carolina University.

“If those students choose not to associate themselves with their original, or intended gender, that is their choice and the university should cater to their wants and needs.”

The Daily Tar Heel, the student newspaper at UNC Chapel Hill, also reported on the issue, noting the living situations of the grand total of four students who opted for the program would be in limbo.

“This isn’t just some social experiment,” junior Kevin Claybren, who led the push for gender-neutral housing at UNC and plans to participate in the pilot program this fall, told the Tar Heel. “These are actual student lives that are being voted on.”

The one-page bill was largely sponsored by Sen. David Curtis – an alum of UNC Chapel Hill.

It simply states that, “notwithstanding  any  other  provision  of  law,  the  University  of  North  Carolina  shall prohibit the assignment of members of the opposite sex to the same dormitory room … unless the students are siblings or … legally married. …”

“The purpose of this bill is to help the UNC system regain its focus on the core mission of educating young people and helping them find meaningful employment in our state,” Curtis has said. “UNC did not become a national leader in academics by wasting time and tax dollars on frivolous social experiments.”

While LGBTQ proponents have decried the move as disappointing and troubling, saying the effort was backed by many students and leaders on campus – which it was – there were still students against the proposal.

“There is a growing population of students who have not interacted with LGBTQ students, and by segregating part of the population, UNC is keeping those students from interacting,” student campus leader Lucas Mavromatis told The College Fix in December. “UNC is so excited by its diversity, but I don’t think it realizes it’s segregating its diversity instead of encouraging interaction.”

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