Paging Jack Tripper - I

Paging Jack Tripper - I went to college in a tiny, struggling little school in the middle of North Dakota. The school was nominally affiliated with the Presbyterian Church - mainly because they wanted roughly $5,000 a year that came from the church's General Assembly. Things were that tight at Jamestown College back then; change from under sofas in dormitory lounges went into the general fund.

The school had a pretty stodgy moral code; getting caught with alcohol on campus was a $50 first offense. And "Prurience", as it was quaintly called in the school handbook, was serious business. People were not supposed to be in the dorm rooms of the opposite gender after 11PM - 1AM on weekends. Granted, the rules were followed only to the extent that it took to maintain appearances; beer flowed like the Volga in the dorms; the walls and ceilings shook all weekend. Rules, schmules.

Jamestown College was, of course, the country cousin of MacAlester College, which is floating a trial balloon for a policy that would allow opposite-gendered students to cohabitate in the dorms.

Responding to a request from students, Macalester College has formed a committee to study a proposal that would allow students of the opposite sex to share a dorm room.

If approved, the proposal for gender-blind housing is an attempt to make transgender students feel more comfortable on campus, officials at the private school in St. Paul said.

I'm not sure what level of "comfort" the transgendered students are looking for - I can't relate to them, beyond the normal bounds of human empathy and compassion.

But if they're not already comfortable at Macalester - a school whose political mien resembles Evergreen State if not Berkeley - I have to wonder where they would feel comfortable.

Among the issues to be addressed is who would be eligible for the housing program — including such details as whether to limit it to those who are transgender or allowing gays and heterosexuals.

Can you imagine if they cut the policy off with transgendered and gay students?

"Yes, Ms. Dean of Students, I'm gay. Yeah - that's the ticket. And I'm thinking I'd be much more, er, comfortable, and feel much more accepted here at Macalester, if you let me share a dorm room with Britney instead of Jared."

The issue has been covered in the student newspaper but it hasn't generated much controversy on campus, said senior Katherine McCarthy, who serves on a student advisory committee for the dean.

"I think it's a good idea,'' she said. "Students who are uncomfortable in same-sex housing should have the right to have housing they are comfortable in.''

Question: has anyone asked the non-transgendered (or non-gay) residents of the dorms how they feel about having dorm-mates of opposite or ambiguous gender among them?

Before the legion of the perpetually indignant bum-rushes my comment section again - I honestly don't know, and would like to.

Posted by Mitch at November 21, 2003 06:06 AM