With the rise of LGBTQ advocacy and transgender awareness, the housing policies for transgender and gender nonconforming individuals have evolved differently at central New York colleges to suit the demand.

Two colleges, Oswego State and Ithaca College, have implemented measures to accommodate transgender students, although Ithaca has made more widespread changes.

Luca Maurer, LGBT education, outreach and services program director at Ithaca College, said the push for these measures is largely due to society becoming more welcoming toward members of the LGBTQ community.

“It’s only very recently that there’s been more media attention,” Maurer said. “With that media attention, some people feel a little more safe and supported to come out as trans.”

Maurer said transgender individuals have always been part of schools, families and communities, and now that they are coming out, it is important for colleges to accommodate them, including on the residential level.

Oswego State Assistant Vice President for Residence Life and Housing Richard Kolenda said Oswego has made room changes available for transgender students upon request, and it is largely up to the student to reach out to Residential Life in person.

“All student policies are in effect regardless, so it’s important that if they make themselves known, we will work with them,” Kolenda said.

These procedures contrast with those of Ithaca College, which allows a room change request for any reason either through its residence and housing department or completely online.

“Recently we have changed our housing software to be more inclusive, where students can select in the same bedrooms as a male/female group,” said Amanda Walrad, administrative assistant for Residential Life at Ithaca College.

As far as living situations available for transgender students, The Village is the only residence option at Oswego State that offers co-ed by room, and students wishing to opt in have to sign an agreement. Kolenda said that the college is also in the talking stages of expanding co-ed residences beyond The Village.

“On paper, it sounds all right, but there’s a lot of logistical things that have to be [done before it can happen],” Kolenda said.

Gender-inclusive housing at Ithaca College is an opt-in system, with it being available in most dorms should students request it. Recently, the campus has done renovations on two of its tower buildings to include four individual private bathrooms, making them co-ed by room, meaning rooms can have two people of differing genders.

“It’s kind of a win-win for everyone because regardless of what your need is, it provides greater privacy for everyone,” said Ron Trunzo, associate director of residential life at Ithaca College.

The reception of the current policies at Oswego State and Ithaca College varies across the campuses. Mac Shafer, president of Oswego State’s Pride Alliance, said that at Oswego State, there is room for improvement in the current policies.

“I see it having a negative policy as of right now mostly because I talk to a lot of trans people online, and a lot of [them] are thinking about college,” Shafer said. “It’s so unfortunate when I’m like, ‘We don’t really have a solid gender-neutral housing policy yet’…and just seeing them kind of deflate.”

Maurer said he has seen a predominantly positive response to Ithaca College’s LGBTQ policies, which have placed the college on this year’s “Top 10 Trans-Friendly Colleges” by College Pride, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to transgender college issues.

“People find our campus community to be very, not just accepting, but to be inclusive and affirming,” Maurer said. “That does not mean that it’s perfect here and there’s not work to be done. Sometimes individuals experience difficulty, and that’s also why my office is here.”

Both Shafer and Maurer said that changing housing policies to meet the changing times is only half the battle. A concurrent effort has to be made on the personal communication level, educating employees on campus on how to handle LGBTQ issues, Maurer said.

“Some of that work is not around policies but more on helping equip students, staff and faculty with the tools that they need to be able to do this well,” Maurer said. “Policies are part of the puzzle, but the other part is then people have to act in accordance with them.”