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Gender Affirming Roommate Matching Participation

In keeping with the mission of Â鶹´«Ã½ to promote and support inclusion, the Office of Residential Life and University Housing Operations allows participation in Gender Affirming Roommate Matching for students who desire housing placement that is based on a broader and more inclusive definition of gender and gender identity.

Gender Affirming Roommate Matching provides participating students with the opportunity to be placed in housing in an environment that is welcoming to gender affirming identities. Students who seek a gender affirming assignment should consider the following guidelines when deciding whether or not to participate in Gender Affirming Roommate Matching:

Participation Criteria

In order to participate in Gender Affirming Roommate Matching, students must:

• Indicate (in the Housing Application) that you wish to have access to the Gender Affirming Roommate Matching Participation Form. This will be a question to which applicants must respond either Yes or No in the Housing Application. Upon indicating that you wish to have access to it and submitting your Housing Application, the Gender Affirming Roommate Matching Participation Form will be available to you under the Applications and Forms menu in MyHousing.
• Complete the separate Gender Affirming Roommate Matching Participation Form. Again, this form will be available to all students who, in their completed housing application, indicated that they wish to have access to it. This form will help ensure that students fully understand the scope of what is (and is not) offered in the GA housing option. It will also collect the personal information necessary to facilitate GA roommate/suitemate matching.
• Submit your housing deposit to be eligible to search for roommates Â鶹´«Ã½“ students may complete the Gender Affirming Roommate Matching Participation Form as soon as they have submitted their Housing Application (if in the application they have indicated that wish to have access to the form), but the roommate matching process will only be open to students only after they submitted their housing deposit.
• Remember:
  • Submission of the housing application is required before students may complete the Gender Affirming Roommate Matching Participation Form; submission of the Housing Deposit is required before students may engage in the roommate searching and matching process.
  • Students who apply and/or deposit for housing AFTER the guaranteed housing deadline may still complete the Gender Affirming Roommate Matching Participation Form, but we cannot guarantee their placement in housing.
  • Students who do not complete the Gender Affirming Roommate Matching Participation Form will be included in the General Roommate Matching process, and will only be able to select (or be assigned with) roommates according to binary gender.

What Happens After Submitting the Roommate Matching and The Housing Assignment Process

Completion of the Gender Affirming Roommate Matching Participation Form will result in a student being placed in the Gender Affirming Roommate Matching Pool. This pool will only have students who have chosen to participate in Gender Affirming Roommate Matching. Placement in this roommate pool allows students to participate in Gender Affirming Roommate Matching in one of two ways:

Roommate and Suitemate Searching and Matching

• When Roommate Searching and Matching processes are active, students who have submitted BOTH their housing application and housing deposit will be able to search for other students with whom they can match to form roommate and suitemate groups. The Roommate Searching and Matching processes have specific starting and ending dates, which vary for returning students and newly applying students; please refer to the timeline provided by Housing Operations. During this process, students who have chosen to participate in Gender Affirming Roommate Matching may search for roommates/suitemates among other students who are participating in Gender Affirming Roommate Matching. In addition to our basic roommate matching criteria (e.g. smoking status, bed time, etc.), students participating in GA Roommate Matching will be able to indicate one or more criteria they are seeking in their potential roommates, and then see a listing of students who meet the criteria indicated.
• Each list of students yielded in the search process will provide the basic roommate matching criteria (e.g. smoking status, bed time, etc.), the preferred names of each of the students listed, the identified gender of each student listed (if that student has provided that information), plus the GA Housing criteria that each student listed provided to describe students they would feel comfortable sharing a living space with. Students may then reach out to anyone who meets their criteria and inquire about being roommates, regardless of binary gender. This is the only process through which students may select their own roommates.
• Searching and matching with roommate/suitemate/housemate pairs/groups is OPTIONAL. If students participating in Gender Affirming Roommate Matching wish to select their own roommates, they must do so by the roommate matching process due dates as communicated in the housing application instructions provided by Housing Operations. Note that Roommate Matching Process dates differ for new and returning students. If students participating in Gender Affirming Roommate Matching do not match with one or more roommates, they will be matched by Housing Operations with other students in the Gender Affirming Roommate Matching pool, according to the criteria they listed when completing their Gender Affirming Roommate Matching Participation Form.
• Students who are seeking to match with roommates but have difficulty finding someone who is a good fit, or who are uncomfortable indicating details regarding their gender identity through the online form, may seek assistance from the LGBTQA+ Center. As noted, it is possible for students to exclude themselves from having their profile searched. In such cases, students would not be able to match with others but can still be assigned with roommates and suitemates in accordance with the criteria they provided in their Gender Affirming Roommate Matching Participation Form.

Being Assigned Roommates and Suitemates by Housing

• Students who indicate that they seek a Gender AFFIRMING roommate/suitemate matching process but who do NOT search for (or match with) one or more roommates through the matching process will still be assigned housing in accordance with the criteria they provided in their Gender Affirming Roommate Matching Participation Form. It should be noted that while Housing Operations will seek to make the best matches possible from within the pool of students seeking GENDER AFFIRMING housing, students have much more agency if they search for and match with roommates on their own.

Other Important Information

Â鶹´«Ã½ discourages students in any sexual or romantic relationships from living together in a residence hall housing unit, although we do not question the studentÂ鶹´«Ã½™s motives for wanting to participate in a Gender Affirming Roommate Matching. Â鶹´«Ã½ does not have or offer accommodations for family housing.

As indicated, the information students share in this form is intended to be searchable by other students in the Gender Affirming Roommate Matching pool. Students who are uncomfortable indicating details regarding their gender identity through the online form, may seek assistance from the LGBTQA+ Center. Alternately, it is possible for students to complete the form but exclude themselves from having their profile searched by other students. In such cases, students would not be able to match with others, but they can still be assigned with roommates and suitemates (by the Housing Operations Team) in accordance with the criteria they provided in their Gender Affirming Roommate Matching Participation Form.

If a roommate(s), suitemate(s) or housemate(s) cancels their housing or moves out of the room/suite/house for any reason, the remaining roommate(s)/suitemate(s)/housemate(s) must identify a new roommate(s) to fill the vacancy. The Housing Operations Staff reserves the right to reassign remaining students to a smaller room.

If, before or after move-in, a conflict rises to the level that one or more students must be removed from the room or suite, Students participating in Gender Affirming Roommate Matching agree to try and determine among themselves who will move. Participants further agree that if agreement cannot be reached, the Director of Residential Life for their campus (or their designee) will have the right to make that decision and may choose to move all residents.

It is the studentÂ鶹´«Ã½™s choice to communicate with parents or family members about the decision to participate in Gender Affirming Roommate Matching. The Housing Operations Staff, and the Office of Residential Life, recommends a conversation between the student and their parents, family members or others who support the student about their housing choice so that they can be provide informed support of the studentÂ鶹´«Ã½™s decision.

As with all housing assignment preferences, while we work to create the opportunity for students to select their room with the individual(s) of their choice whenever possible, Gender Affirming Roommate Matching cannot guarantee meeting every preference or matching criteria, particularly in cases where roommate/suitemate matching is left to the Housing Staff. The matching and assignment process cannot always account for the range of variables involved. In cases where students are seeking a Gender Affirming Roommate Matching assignment but it is not initially granted (e.g. they learn that they have been assigned with one or more roommates who do not support a Gender Affirming living situation), we ask that the student contacts the Housing Operations Staff as soon as possible to seek continued assistance in securing a housing assignment that better meets their needs.

Our ability to make Gender Affirming Roommate Matching assignments is greatly diminished when working to place students from the Waitlist into Guaranteed Housing. Once the process of moving students from the waitlist to guaranteed housing begins, the initial priority must be finding space as quickly as possible, which may not initially allow for a Gender Affirming Roommate Matching assignment. We are committed to continuing to work with students, through the room change request process, after they move in if necessary.