When Chancellor Thorp rejected the proposal for gender-neutral housing, he told students that we needed to have a “broader conversation” on the topic.
In that vein, student activists like Kevin Claybren have initiated a campaign to improve housing policy not only on this campus but throughout the UNC system.
If this new housing policy is passed, we will be the first school in the UNC system to do so. Though Thorp unfortunately saw this as an obstacle to implementing the policy, it should be thought of as the very opposite.
Not only is our campus the flagship of the UNC system, it is also the most diverse. We should be pioneering inclusive policies like gender-neutral housing and urging other UNC-system schools to follow suit.
When Thorp rejected the proposal in February, he expressed concerns that it had not been adequately explained to stakeholders. The fear of losing stakeholder support may have been reason enough for Thorp to reject the policy temporarily, but we now expect him to support student activists and aid them in reaching out to their potential opposition.
Though Claybren and other activists have gathered together hundreds of students who support the policy from various UNC-system schools, the only real way to make progress is to be in contact with the right people — especially those who are not yet convinced.
We understand that students are not the only people to whom Thorp is accountable, and we commend him for facilitating conversation between the various parties on either side of this issue.
Thorp’s support has both lent legitimacy to the idea of gender-neutral housing and helped foster a sense, among students, that they are being taken seriously.
If Thorp needs to be convinced that he won’t face a backlash for supporting gender-neutral housing, then it makes sense for him to connect those most wary of the policy with the students who understand best why it is necessary.
