AUSTIN, Texas — The University of Texas at Austin is taking a new step toward gender inclusivity.
The school announced it will start a two-year pilot program during the fall 2022 semester that will allow students in certain on-campus residence halls to live together regardless of gender or sexual identity.
UT said the "Family and Friend Expanded Roommate Option" allows enrolled students to select any other student who is currently enrolled as their roommate. UT said the option is meant to "enhance our residents' sense of belonging" and that it "facilitates a smoother transition to college life by increasing the options for selecting a roommate."
The new option will only be available in select residence halls where students have shared suites or rooms with private bathrooms. The halls where the option will be available are Blanton, Duren, Jester East and Jester West, San Jacinto and Moore-Hill.
Adrienne Hunter, a senior and transgender woman who has advocated for this type of change at UT, told The Texas Tribune that student advocates have been pushing the university to create a gender-inclusive housing option since at least 2006.
"This is the result of so many students working on this issue," Hunter told the Tribune. "It’s something in my opinion that is tangibly going to lead to so many students, trans students, feel[ing] included."
In March, Hunter and others released a report on the state of LGBTQIA+ students since 2006. The group surveyed more than 2,000 students on campus, and the report claimed, "The University of Texas at Austin does not offer the inclusivity that LGBTQIA+ students and other historically-oppressed groups demand."
One of the ways the report recommended improving conditions for LGBTQIA+ students was to establish a clear webpage for gender-inclusive housing on the university's housing website that highlights gender-inclusive housing at UT. The report said such a page should include a clear equity and inclusion statement, community standards, contact information and frequently asked questions specifically pertaining to gender-inclusive housing practices at UT.
According to The Texas Tribune, a handful of other Texas universities already have gender-inclusive housing, including the University of Texas at Dallas and the University of Texas at San Antonio. The University of Houston has a “living learning community” that is gender-inclusive in two of its residence halls, and Texas Tech University created a housing option that went into effect in 2021 that allows students in the West Village residence hall to allow eligible students to live together in the same apartment on-campus regardless of gender.
UT's Housing and Dining department will offer the new roommate option during the two-year pilot and review future implementation after that.
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