Northwestern student govt calls for segregated ‘Pride House’ for LGBT-identifying students
One survey alleges that one in four students at the Illinois school identify as LGBTQ.
One student, citing the supposed need for such housing, mentioned a man who felt alienated after a female roommate mentioned her discomfort at sharing housing with a man.
Northwestern University’s Associated Student Government recently passed a resolution calling for school officials to establish housing for those who identify as LGBTQ.
The May 15 resolution describes such housing as a “Pride House,” stating that the Illinois-based university currently does not offer such an option. The ASG justifies the request by alleging that LGBTQ-identifying students face unique challenges.
“[T]he Residential Experience all-gender housing options lack trained student and full time staff on campus and community resources related to the LGBTQIA+ student experience,” the document asserts.
[RELATED: LSU student gov recommends university room students based on gender ‘identity’]
The ASG also points to university survey data that claimed that 25% of Northwestern students identify as LGBTQ.
The ASG also discussed and passed a motion to call on university officials to continue putting rainbow lights on Deering Library during “Pride Month.” To justify this resolution, the ASG alleged that Northwestern “has a history of homophobia, transphobia, and anti-LGBTQ+ violence on campus,” and that Northwestern “has permitted anti-LGBTQ+ demonstrations, speakers, and research.”
A Northwestern student claimed the resolution calling for a “Pride House” is “like a stepping stone” making the call for such housing “more legitimized in the eyes of the upper administration.”
Another student claimed that transgender-identifying students would fit better in specific housing geared toward students who identify as LGBTQ.
Mentioning the alleged case of a man who was accused of having bad intentions after he was placed in the same dorm as a woman, she said: “Those issues do need to be fixed with Residential Services, but the Pride House would at least be able to alleviate it for some students and … serve as another place on campus for queer community to be built.”
“There are a lot of issues of being a trans person in Northwestern, and just in general, being a trans person. Having community support is a really important thing in order to get through that,” she added.
[RELATED: NYU invites students to find new ‘vision of themselves’ at ‘Queer Pride Clothing and Book Swap’]
Segregated housing for LGBTQ-identifying students is a growing trend on some college and university campuses. In 2023, Ithaca College in New York created housing for transgender-identifying and “nonbinary”-identifying students.
In the fall of 2022, the Catholic schools of Fairfield University, Sacred Heart University, and Saint Mary’s College of California all offered “gender-inclusive” roommate options.
Campus Reform contacted the Associated Student Government and Northwestern University for comment. This story will be updated accordingly.
