EDITORIAL: "And Housing For All"

For on-campus housing,For on-campus housing,University officials shouldFor on-campus housing,University officials shouldstop worrying about whoFor on-campus housing,University officials shouldstop worrying about whois sleeping with whom.For on-campus housing,University officials shouldstop worrying about whois sleeping with whom._____________________________ Well, at the very least, they are starting to fade. Residential Living officials said yesterday that gay, lesbian and unmarried heterosexual couples will now be able to live in space reserved for married students. This is good. The University should not discriminate against anyone when it comes to housing. Unfortunately, though, they still do. For example, this new policy only applies to graduate students. Undergraduate gay or lesbian couples will not be permitted to live in married student dorms -- even though undergraduate married couples do live in these residences. Obviously, this hurts very few people. There are relatively few married undergraduates, and relatively few undergraduate gay or lesbian couples searching for married housing, so arguably there is little need for anyone to worry about this. But that's not the point. The University should let people live where they want. Married, gay, lesbian, graduate, undergraduate -- we are all adults here. If you want to live with your boyfriend, your lover, your wife, or just your good opposite sex platonic friend, it's none of the University's business. Last year, the University forced several students out of their Van Pelt College House suite because they dared to sneak around the rules and have a coed room. Big deal. If University officials looked outside their ivory tower every once and a while, they would realize many students now live in coed houses off-campus. With Residential Living suffering from high rents and low occupancy rates, it would also be in the University's best interest to give students what they want. In effect, students already have coed on-campus housing. If University officials think no one's boyfriend or girlfriend occasionally sleeps over, they are dreaming. And changing the PENNCard rules won't stop it. It's time to open University housing to all students. It's time to live and let live.

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