Dorm policy brings praise

Some graduate students last week gave tempered praise to the University's new policy allowing unmarried couples to live in residence halls, centering their concerns on safety. "It's fine with me, I'm not in any way biased," said Law student David Cahn, a Mayer Hall resident. "I don't see a homosexual couple being any different than my wife and me -- roomates that love each other." And homosexual groups and administrators also praised the University's decision last week, saying it is one that was long in coming and well-deserved. "I'm very pleased. I think it's a step in the right direction, although I think the University still has a long way to go in granting [equality to gay, lesbian and bisexual students]," said Bob Schoenberg, assistant director of Student Life Programs. The University changed its residency policy last week after graduate students and activists said the policy of only allowing graduate students, their spouses and children to live in residence halls was discriminatory towards gays, lesbians and unmarried heterosexual couples. Members of Penn's Eagerly Awaited Radical Ladies -- an organization mainly for lesbian and bisexual women -- praised the change last week. "We've been fighting for a long time to get partnership rights recognized," said History graduate student Beth Clement, co-coordinator of PEARL. "I'm glad it happened." Clement said that the change would not "induce" her to live on campus however because her Center City apartment is more comfortable and less expensive than the residence halls. "Even if nobody ever uses it, it's an important thing to have on the record," said Abby Schrader, who is active in PEARL and the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly. Schrader said that although it is too early to know what effect the new policy will have, first-year graduate students who are new to Philadelphia will probably be the ones to take advantage of it. Claudia Buchweitz and her husband, Education student Pedro Jarcez, also supported the new policy, saying that the new residents "won't be noisier" than all of the children in Mayer Hall. "Everybody here will be students, and that's the main thing," added Buchweitz, who takes courses in the College. "Everybody will be doing the same thing -- studying when exams come. This won't be a problem." The couple said that the change would alter the atmosphere of Mayer Hall and make it "more like a regular building than a dorm." "In a regular building you don't get to choose these things," Buchweitz said. But building manager Dessa Deforest said that the change in atmosphere would be "unfortunate." "The families are very close and everyone knows everyone else," Deforest said. "Mayer Hall kind of has a family reputation. If we start bringing in other couples I could see it causing lots of conflicts . . . with other students who are very much against it." Deforest, who has a young child, said she was also concerned about the effect it would have on the children who live in the building. "I think the policy for Mayer Hall should stay the same because there are a lot of children here, and role model-wise it's not the best," Deforest said. "I'm big on not sheltering children from the world, but there are some things they don't need to experience on a daily basis until they're old enough to understand," Deforest said. However, Kahn, who has children, disagreed saying that "the kids don't know the diference." Some graduate residents also were concerned with the safety of having non-University students in the building now that graduate students can live with whomever they want. "We've really been trying to keep up security here," Deforest said. "If people are going to be bringing vagrants in it could be [dangerous]." Law student Greg Krasovsky said that the greater security risks were "the price of freedom." And Wharton student Jon Zagrodzky said he objected to "people that aren't members of the University having access to University facilities." Although the final draft of the policy is not yet completed, it is already in effect. "Somebody did come today and say that 'my partner wants to live with me,' " Brigitte Blanco, director of graduate programs in residence, said on Thursday. Blanco said that she does not expect many changes to occur this semester since most of the rooms are full.

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