Simmons University offers themed housing for Muslims, but not for Jewish students
The ‘Beit Community’ offers ‘any resident the opportunity to live in a uniquely Muslim environment.’
Simmons, despite having an undergraduate women’s program, also has housing for men who identify as women, and allows men into the program allegedly reserved for women.
A university in Boston, Massachusetts offers “Themed Housing” for Muslims, but not for Jewish students.
The “Themed Housing” section of Simmons’ University’s website lists, among other options, the “Beit Community” that “offers any resident the opportunity to live in a uniquely Muslim environment.”
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The university claims that “this community will be a supportive home where students can engage in a holistic experience while embracing the richness of Islamic Culture and values.”
Simmons does not appear to offer any such themed housing opportunity for Jewish students, but other housing opportunities include “The BIPOC Community” that “foster[s] authentic and lasting solidarity to undo Native invisibility, anti-Blackness, and advance racial justice,” as well as “The Trans & Non-Binary Community.”
“The Trans & Non-Binary Living-Learning Communities are created for students who identify anywhere within the transgender and non-binary spectrum as well as folx who are strong active allies,” the university states.
Though Simmons offers an undergraduate program for women and states that its mission is to “empower women,” the school still allows men into the women’s program, saying it accepts “applicants who consistently live and identify as women, and/or applicants who do not fit into the gender binary but who feel they belong in our undergraduate community of women.”
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To explain why men are allowed into women’s spaces, Simmons states in a “frequently asked questions” section that, although it is still “committed to our historic mission as a women’s college,” it also believes that “traditional notions of gender are evolving, and increasingly individuals do not conform to the gender binary.”
Answering the question: “How will Simmons know if an applicant is transgender?” the school answers that it will take prospective students’ word if they “self-identify” as “transgender.”
Campus Reform has contacted Simmons University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
