Student Senate voted on a gender inclusive housing resolution on Monday during its general assembly meeting, but it did not pass after failing to receive a two-thirds majority vote with 24 in favor, 17 against and 3 abstaining. Monday’s general assembly meeting was the final meeting for the 2017-2018 Student Senate cabinet.
The resolution was aimed at allowing transgender students to live in all dorms as the gender they identify as. This new resolution was would allow transgender student to live on all floors of all university-owned buildings, according to former Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion and the incoming 2018-2019 Secretary of Finance Camille Sanders.
Last fall, university housing designated the first floor of Wyckoff Hall as a gender-neutral floor to sign up for.
Sanders said she was disappointed but not surprised by the resolution failing to pass on its first attempt at a vote.
“Basing it off of last year, when we did [the preferred pronoun resolution], it also didn’t get voted in the first time either,” Sanders said. “The topic of trans people in general makes people uncomfortable because it is foreign to a lot of people.”
Senior English major Alice Allpow, an at-large senator and the first openly out transgender woman in Student Senate, said she is frustrated that the resolution did not pass.
“That was really, really disappointing to me, and I’ve been bummed out about it all week,” Allpow said.
Despite the resolution not passing, Sanders said she anticipates the topic will reach Student Senate again in the future.
“This is not the only time Senate is going to bring something like this forward,” Sanders said.
