All-Gender Housing

This creates an environment where student housing is not restricted to traditional limitations of the gender binary, and All-gender housing supports the College’s non-discrimination policy with respect to sexual orientation, sex, gender, and gender identity. All Gender housing provides housing options for all students, including those who may identify as transgender or are questioning their gender identity or do not wish to prescribe to gender classifications. All Gender housing also decreases heteronormative assumptions regarding housing assignments. Middlebury College recognizes that traditional, same-sex room assignments are not ideal or appropriate for all students. In addition, all-gender bathrooms are designated on mixed-gender floors when possible.

All-gender housing applies to all multiple-occupancy rooms on campus. All-gender options cover multiple floors, buildings, and houses such that occupants of all-gender spaces are not segregated to only one or two halls. All-gender bathrooms are designated on mixed-gender floors when possible.

Rooms on mixed-gender floors are considered all-gender rooms only when two or more students agree to live together. Students agree to live together when they select a room together during Room Draw in the spring semester. Students must self-select the all-gender housing option. All-gender housing will never be forced upon a student. If a vacancy occurs in a room on a mixed-gender floor, the room is not treated as an all-gender space. The remaining occupant may pull in a student to maintain the gender status of the room or the Residential Systems Coordinator will assign a student to the room. The sex of the students will be considered when a vacancy exists in a multiple-occupancy space.

All-gender housing is not available for first-year students. Rooms are only all-gender when students agree to live together, and the housing process for first-year students does not allow for the appropriate agreement.

The following terms are essential to understanding the All-Gender housing policy:

• Single-Gender: A floor in a residence hall that is designated as for men or women. Single-gender floors exist only in first-year housing in Stewart, Battell, and Allen.
• Mixed-Gender: A floor in a residence hall for students of any gender. Mixed-gender floors comprise the majority of the College’s housing and are found throughout the campus in the form of residence halls, suites, and small houses.
• All-Gender: A housing option that allows students to share a room regardless of the students’ sex or gender. Any room in a mixed-gender area (except first-year housing) may be considered all-gender.