The Department of Residence is in the process of creating gender inclusive housing so all students can feel safe.

Gender inclusive, also known as gender neutral housing, would allow students to live together in a residence hall room without taking into account the students’ gender identity or sex.

Stormy O’Brink, senior public relations major, said student housing currently goes by the sex a student is assigned at birth, which can be a “sticky situation” for some students.

“Sometimes, the situation can lead to trans* students feeling unsafe or actually being unsafe,” she said. “In other situations, nongender inclusive housing can lead to trans* students being forced to out themselves against their will.”

O’Brink said the only current option for these students is to sign up for single rooms, for which they have to pay extra.

“Forcing students to pay more for an accommodation they need to feel safe is unfair,” she said.

Lyn Redington, director of residence life, said UNI has gender inclusive housing, but currently there is no specified place or community on campus. Redington said there are too many people and too many departments involved with gender inclusive housing to make an exact time line of when there will be a specified place on campus for inclusive housing. However, Redington said gender inclusive housing is “a priority.”

“I think it is very important … from the practical standpoint that there are people who would like this as a living option and we should think about providing it for them, but also from the safety standpoint that if done the right way, it can be a safer place for folks to live and express themselves,” said Ellie Hail, Dancer Hall program assistant.

Hail put together a committee with Redington over a year ago that gets together once a month to discuss what they might run into while creating gender inclusive housing. Faculty members are included in this committee, such as staff from the DOR, the UNI Counseling Center and the Wellness Recreation Center.

“Parents might have a concern down the road,” Hail said. “And there’s been other schools that have implemented gender inclusive housing in some way, shape or form, and other folks in the university or in the system have an issue with that. We’re trying to be careful and methodical in how we make this happen so that it is right for the students, but also right for UNI.”

O’Brink said transphobia is also an issue, as some people would rather not have those who are trans* around at all. She said some people think inclusive housing would be unfair to the other students because they consider it a “special right.”

“We need it, full stop. Students deserve to feel safe, regardless of how they identify,” O’Brink said. “The only thing we should be debating is the best way to do it, and where to put it.”