According to The Hoya, Jesuit Georgetown University’s student newspaper, officials at the University have said they are willing to broach the topic of “gender-blind housing,” which would “not take into account gender when assigning housing to students.”
This past Sunday, Georgetown student senators voted to “take a closer look” at this suggestion for on-campus housing, the article reported, which “could lead to a more accepting atmosphere for LGBTQ students.”
Regarding the proposal, Todd Olsen, Vice President for Student Affairs, reportedly told The Hoya, “I am open to discussing ideas and interests with students as they pursue this dialogue.”
It seems that Georgetown students have mixed feelings about “gender-blind” housing on campus, as The Hoya reports:
As formal discussion of gender-blind housing begins at Georgetown, some students have questioned its viability.
“Though I think gender-blind housing would potentially be a positive thing to consider, we have to remember that if significant others chose to live with each other then broke up, we would have a higher number of people needing to change rooms, thus creating a housing nightmare,” Moriah Lenhart-Wees (COL ’13) said.
For other students, the benefits of a change in housing policy would be widespread for the campus.
“Gender-blind housing would be very beneficial to the Georgetown community. It would be helpful to the many people on campus who have friends of the opposite sex and who have different sexual orientations,” Eric Bulakites (COL ’13) said.
The GUSA resolution, which garnered 17 votes in favor and four abstentions, also spurred debate among senators.
“GUSA is responsible for allocating funds to various clubs and organizations. However, when you get into the issue of gender-blind housing, its gets dangerously political, and I don’t think that is where GUSA belongs,” Senator Colton Malkerson (COL ’13) said.
Get the full story here.
The article fails to even mention the fact that, as a Catholic university, Georgetown has a responsibility to promote the virtue of chastity on campus. Placing men and women together as roommates completely undermines this. It is disturbing that “officials” at the institution are even willing to broach this topic with students. The answer should be quite simple: No.
Unfortunately, many Catholic universities already have very lax, if not non-existent, male/female intervisitaion policies for dorm life. Allowing “gender-blind” housing would only serve to institutionalize the hook-up culture which sadly pervades much of Catholic higher education.
Fortunately for Catholic parents and students serious about living the Catholic faith and the virtues during the college years, there are institutions that make chastity a corner-stone of campus life. The Catholic colleges and universities profiled in The Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College have student life policies in effect that severely curb and in most cases eliminate the hook-up culture from campus.
Georgetown and many other “prestigious” Catholic colleges would do well to study the policies of Newman Guide colleges in order to turn the tide of Catholic campus culture back to a practice of the virtues. Read The Newman Guide for free online here: http://www.TheNewmanGuide.com
Adam Wilson
CNS Staff
Matthew Archbold
Charlotte Hays
76 Comments
This is ridiculous! I for one, as a parent of a son and a daughter, would not allow them to attend a university which allowed gender-blind housing. As Catholic parents who plan on preaching abstinence in our home and the importance of saving intimacy and sex for marriage (they are only 5 and 6 yrs. old respectively at this time), this goes against our values as a Catholic family. The purpose of attending college is to focus on academics. Furthermore, growing up (and it will be the same rule in our home), I wasn’t allowed to have a boy come up to my bedroom, whether he was a friend or a boyfriend. Socialize, ok, but not cohabitate. I am really starting to question the mission of Catholic universities today. The focus should stay on preaching the word of God and upholding the laws and teachings of the church, not trying to appeal to the masses which include young adults. As elders we need to realize that although they deserve to be heard, modern times and modern ways of thinking can’t take the place of time-honored church tenets.
AMEN!
Get serious its great to preach abstinence I am catholic although ARE YOU SERIOUS!! I just graduated from college and believe me if your son or daughter wants to hook up with someone its going to happen its not like you are going to be there at every party they attend and every one they meet… part of college is hooking up if you can rememeber back to your college days not to much has changed except that people are maybe more open about it!
Wonderfully put, Deborah!! Kudos to you for speaking up…too many people don’t today and even more sadly, don’t think your way…and call themsleves Catholic!! Thank you and don’t lose hope!
Just because you feel that “part of college is hooking up,” a Catholic University definitely should not sink to that level of thinking, and actually encourage it. Just because something is a reality does not make it right, much less moral! The beautiful thing about the Catholic Church is that it cannot be changed by “popular vote.” There is no such thing as a “cafeteria Catholic” who chooses what to believe and not to believe. The Catholic Faith is the one true faith, and if a person and/or institution chooses not to believe the TRUTH, then don’t call yourelf Catholic! Where is the Bishop on this…he really needs to put Georgetown on notice that if they cannot live out Catholic beliefs, then they cannot call themselves Catholic!
I concur, the main reason for selecting a Catholic College is to be able to become better educated in our Catholic Faith and the moral aspects of life. In recent times the posture promoted by Georgetown and Notre Dame leaves much to be desired. They should not be referred to as Prestigious Universities but run of the mill factories of non Catholic principles. The Bishops of the U. S. couldn’t get their attention so I guess it’s up to the Vatican to remove their link to our Catholic Faith. Sad but true.
This whole issue has significant problems, though we also have to admit that it is of little suprise coming from Georgetown who has sold out its Catholic heritage for prestige, and really needs to have its Catholic status stripped.
That aside, to look at the issue itself has many facets of concern, even more so than are articulated here in the article. It is certainly an affront to the virtue of chastity, and is a public embrace of the near occasion of sin, and quite frankly even its consideration as a possibility does the same.
Some other things that have to be mentioned are clear. It was discussed that the LGBTQ students may be given more support if this way. Looking specifically at those “Q” students, this environment denies them the freedom to really look at the Church’s position on the topic and to fight against those temptations and cultural bombardments. It does the same also for those who identify themselves as L, G, B, or T.
Secondly, it absolutely robs the students, regardless of orientation of the freedom to experience womanhood and manhood. When there is no chance for serious single-gender bonding, when there is significan concern of shame or use, there is no chance at the freedom to learn to really become an adult male or female.
Also needing to be mentioned, though hopefully would never be an issue anywhere is a concern of safety. The binge-drinking, date-rape, hook-up culture, is still a great probelem on university campuses, both Catholic and secular, and to put someone in the situation where a female could have her male roommate abuse her, especially when that roommate was just assigned to her is morally dangerous, and if God-forbid something ever happened, I think Georegetown has a signficant legal culpability.
Shame on Georgetown for even considering this.
Great post Josh. Well said.
Very well said!
I agree!
What does ‘Q’ stand for. This is a new one on me. How many of them (whatever they are) could there be?
While I don’t support gender-blind housing assignments as a default for all students, I can safely say that as a female, heterosexual Georgetown student, there’s no better way to guarantee that I won’t sleep with a man than to tell me I have to live with him.
So is that a yay or nay on the vocation of marriage?
Awesome comeback! I love it!!!
A better way to “keep you from sleeping with a man” is to properly Catechize you that it is a mortal sin to do so. But expecting Jesuits to deliver sound Catechesis is expecting way too much.
Who made you judge and jury? Your pontificating makes you sound as if you have a very high opinion of yourself.
@Josh – The claim that students would be forced to live in mixed gender rooms if they didn’t choose to is completely unfounded. A policy like this would give students the OPTION if they felt more comfortable with a friend of the opposite sex. There would probably be an extremely limited number of mixed-gender roommates and they would be people who already knew and respected each other.
Speaking from experience, I’m pretty sure girls can inflict more pain on girl roommates than most boys ever would. Same gender does not equal friendly or safe
Even if students aren’t “forced to live in mixed gender rooms,” they’d be forced to live with people they know are commiting grave sin. It’s not anyone’s job to ensure that those who live in sin feel “more comfortable.” The money changers in the temple didn’t feel “more comfortable” when Jesus drove them out with a whip. Besides, those who are rescued from sin feel the most “comfortable” because they have been snatched from the hands of Satan and placed in the arms of God. Just because people want to commit sin, that doesn’t mean that others have to support them as they do so. “Be transformed by the renewal of your minds.”
Parents: Be sure to send your children to a truly Catholic College. Newman’s Guide to Catholic Colleges will steer you in the right direction. — A University Professor at a college on Newman’s list.
Wow! Our Blessed Mother warned us about Satan being within the walls of the Catholic Church. Georgetown appears to be one of the walls to look behind.
Relax. Go out and have an adult beverage. Or is alcohol the work of the devil, too?
precise and true!
AMEN to that!
This certainly flies in the face of avoiding the near occasion of sin.
Please reconsider this policy change.
I’m a Catholic parent that has one in college and two in high school. After Obama’s honorary degree at ND and just about everything Georgetown comes up with, I see no need to send my kids to a “Catholic” college. They can get all the “Catholic” background from any state college. Studies support this position.
On the positive side, there are some wonderful things happening at Texas A & M and Texas Tech which are absolutely amazing! Its very inspiring to talk to Catholic students attending those state university. Not only are their Catholic faith being stenghten, but they are an inspiration and witness to their parents.
Take a look at the Cardinal Newman Society list! I get news from the Franciscan University of Stuebenville and I truly believe their college is truly Catholic. I have a friend who is a nurse, a devout authentic Catholic, and she went to Franciscan for a seminar. She said, “That place is anointed!” You can’t be sure at what they’ll be taught at a state college.
You can always send them to Christendom College. That’s what my parents did.
Notre Dame and Georgetown do more damage to the Catholic faith than any good they might do.
Firstly, Global colleges and Universities that were founded as Catholic are to remain in the hands of the Catholic Church. They are ours. Secondly, those who are making decision at these institutions that are not in line with Catholic teaching, need to be addressed. If they fail to make decisions based on our principles, they need to be removed from their positions. The pertinent questions are: a)What needs to be done to make this happen? b) How quickly can we get it done?
Yes, I completely agree. Another comment centered on the fiasco which took place at ND when Obama was the commencement speaker at graduation and given an honorary degree. What happened to the President of the University, Father Jenkins? Absolutely nothing. Now, I understand he is an honorable priest, but that was a dishonorable lapse in judgment. As a lifelong fan of Notre Dame and all she (Notre Dame, our mother) has stood for historically, I was extremely disappointed, not to mention, very confused. How can a Catholic university honor a man who wholeheartedly supports abortion rights and voted against the administration of medical attention to infants born alive following a botched abortion? Disgusting is what it is.
as a graduate from Goergetown medical school I have found it impossible to support my own alma mater in the recent past because of continued lack of stressing Catholic or Christian thought, just look at what happened to the crucifixes when Obama talked there!are we ashamed to be Christians? cohabitation and sin is direct result of the new housing policy, totally unacceptable!
Yes, I was almost sick when I caught wind of that. This President has historically had zero respect for our Catholic rights and heritage. Imagine how he would feel if we were invited to speak at his home but we asked for any and all photographs of he and his family to be covered up? That would be offensive, would it not? For some reason, Georgetown granted that request. I would have told Obama to consider visiting a state funded university instead.
The fastest, surest way to have youth lose the their Catholic faith is to send them to a so-called Catholic college.
Call me an old fashoned father,but as a Catholic to expose our youth to temptations just to keep with the times is totally unacceptable!
That there are attempts to institutionalize the near occasion of sin is not new, though it is always disheartening. What is more deeply disheartening is the fact that, as the Cardinal Newman Society article points out, the article in the Georgetown student newspaper had no reference to the issue of chastity. The only whimper of protest seems centered on the logistical inconveniences resulting from the break-up of boyfriend-girlfriend roommates.
St. Paul warned St. Timothy (2nd Timothy 4:3-4) that “the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth and will be diverted to myths.”
Brothers and sisters in Christ, that time has come.
So let us follow St. Paul’s exhortation to St. Timothy (2nd Timothy 4:5) to “be self-possessed in all circumstances; put up with hardship; perform the work of an evangelist; fulfill your ministry.”
Who preaches HOLINESS these days?
HOLINESS OF THE HEART AND SOUL IS WHAT IS NEEDED…..Rules, laws, regulations, fear tactics DON’T CHANGE THE HEART AND SOUL OF A PERSON.
PREACH HOLINESS AND GOD CONFORMING THE INNER PERSON TO HIS HOLINESS BY HIS POWER.
My daughter is a senior in high school and is preparing and sending off college applications. One place in which she expressed interest but where she will NOT be sending an application is Georgetown. This “gender-blind” possibility is outrageous. People intent on making Catholic colleges more “welcoming” to homosexual students, at the risk of jettisoning all that makes a college Catholic in the first place, need to take their campaigns elsewhere. And, Catholic colleges that cannot seem to abide by Catholic principles need to have their association with the Church stripped away. Lost in the debate is what happens to those traditional Catholic students who want no part of this social experimentation? Their interests are ignored completely. Bottom line: if you cannot follow the teachings of the Church at a particular college then don’t go there.
I refuse/d to send (5 done, 1 to go) my children to a university that would be so biblically and rationally bankrupt that they would blend sexes in their housing, even if voluntary. Even to accommodate the term gender (with its non-equivalence to sex) has already capitulated to fuzzy moral thinking. Higher education that is morally corrupt should be an oxymoron, but seems to be the norm. I urge all god-fearing men and women to stop supporting such schools, including their alma maters if necessary. I have.
We just observed our 50th Wedding Anniversary with a renewal of our marriage vows, witnessed by our four adult Catholic children who have stayed married to their spouses, practice their faith daily, and have given us eleven wonderful grandchildren. Both my wife and I are products of Catholic homes and Catholic education. Perhaps Georgetown should read the scriptures and follow God’ ten commandments or cease pretending to be a Catholic institution!
Sad indeed, that gener-blind housing would even be considered at a “supposedly catholic” university
Whatever became of these Church teachings? (1)fornication is a mortal sin
(2)because of Original Sin, we are all bent toward sin and must guard against sinful temptations and not place ourselves in the near occasion of sin
(3)deliberately placing oneself in the near occasion of mortal sin is a mortal sin in itself
Georgetown University is no longer a Catholic institution. Catholic parents, if you are concerned about the salvation of your children’s immortal souls, you will avoid this school like the plague!
Georgetown University is no longer a Catholic institution. Catholic parents who care about the salvation of their children’s souls should avoid this school like the plague!
Fire all the management and start over. These people are nuts.
Lord you suffered cruel and unjust punishment for my sins and for the sins of all humanity–you did all of this for us and would have done it for each one of us had we been the only one in need of your salvation–I am sorry for my sins and those of the members of Your Mother The Church–how we go on offending you from within. For the sake of your sorrowful passion have mercy on us and on the whole world.
Have these people forgotten about the admonition to “avoid the near occasion of sin?” Remaining celebate before marriage is difficult…as I told my CCD kids who were vowing to “wait,” “that’s going to be the hardest vow to keep in all your life.” Avoid the near temptation of sin is another admonition I remember from my CCD years. Again, what are these people thinking…or not?
Re: “Fortunately for Catholic parents and students serious about living the Catholic faith and the virtues during the college years, there are institutions that make chastity a corner-stone of campus life” … for all the (valid) faults that the Cardinal Newman Society finds with Notre Dame (V Monologues, Obama as commencement speaker, etc.) campus housing is *not* one of them. No mixed-gender dorms, much less no mixed-gender roommates.
I am a graduate of Notre Dame, in the days before Obama think was even a dream. I must confess to not understanding Fr. Jenkins and his abandonment of long held Catholic tenets. But moving along, the sex drive is a powerful one, and allowing or not allowing gender-blind housing ain’t gonna change it. Where there’s a will…..
I attende Georgetown (class of 1987) as did my father. I have witnesed a gradual decline of Catholic Teaching at the university (and my father even greater decline since he graduated in 1961) I am disappointed that a once great institution has been on a moral decline. My children will not be the third generation to attend Georgetown. What a terrible shame.
this is so disturbing but then I still feel universities even public ones should offer single gender dorm buildings. and many Catholic colleges do not offer this either my daughter went to a Jesuit college and the dorms were half a floor of men and half a floor of women split by the lounge are of each floor I was very upset by this.
I have even visited a Catholic college with no visitation policy. They allowed opposite sex overnight visitors. They claimed that because students were over 18, they were consenting adults and had rights. What about the rights of the roommates? I too feel every college should have an option for single sex housing! I have 5 children , 3 of whom are in college and one who will be next year. I feel that in choosing a college, even among the Catholic ones, we only have the choice of the “lesser evil” as there are no good moral colleges, at least not within a 100 or more mile radius of Chicago.
This is unacceptable, even in today’s liberal society. It goes against the teachings of the Catholic Church. Georgetown should no longer be a Catholic College.
Why isn’t there someone in the hirearchy of these Catholic Universities able to fire these radical left wing immoral nuts! If they don’t want abide by the teaching’s and dogma of the “true” Roman Catholic church, plain and simple, keep you political opinions/lifestyle to yourself. I work for the government, if I was to try and influence in any way, my religious beliefs, I would be fired!!
All three of our children attended and graduated from St Francis Desales University, which truly IS a Catholic college. Georgetown and certain others are Catholic in name only. I am so saddened witnessing the “transformation” of out country before our very eyes. We must keep praying and must not give up the fight.
So Sad…if institutions associated with Christian faith are crumbling,how can we expect the secular culture to maintain any form of higher standard? God must be crying over His people. Jerusalem, oh Jerusalem…..
As a graduate of a Jesuit high school and college I continue to be appalled at the craven caving into secular culture that now typifies schools in the “Jesuit tradition.” You send your children to these schools with the hope of having them obtain a deeper understanding of the intellectual roots of their own Catholic faith and they finish as anti-Catholic secular humanists. For this parents are paying $50,000.00 a year and alumni are stupid enough to send them donations. It’s time to starve the beast.
Where is the Bishop? Any Catholic college that has such blatant disregard for Catholic moral teachings should be stripped of its Catholic affiliation!
Are you kidding me??! This is outrageous!
I feel so sad for what the world is coming
to.
Of course, it is a continuing pattern of secularism that has
pervaded the Georgetown(GTU) culture. It does not bolster the
Church’s credibility to continue its support of GTU, and this issue of ‘gender-blind’ is the most absurd in a continuing set of absurdities at this failing institution.
Regardless of personal relationships, co-ed dormitories are an insult to each person’s privacy. Same sex dorms have worked for centuries and ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” I have lost my respect for the GTU culture in general and its declining status as an institution upholding Christian, and Catholic values.
Yes, it has sold out to the popular culture(read: money) and with it has gone its integrity as a place of sound teaching.
It is better now for the Church to immediately withdraw its support than to continue the charade that pervades today..
What sort of idiots are administering what once were our leading Catholic colleges, sponsoring environments the mere existence of which convey to still-impressionable young Catholics implied consent and encouragement to violate precepts of our faith.
This might be talked about for a public college,. However, a Catholic University is just that, Catholic. We have to hold on to traditions of our faith,no matter who is trying to “liberalize” our belief system. This is a minority or liberals pushing the majority into their ideas.
Another strike against what the church considers not proper.It would be comparable to societys acceptance of unmarried male &females living together.I don’t understand Georgetown even considering this further breakdown in moral standards.What has happened to the moral codes responsibility of this university.Does it let the students decide what lack of moral codes to follow?
Where’s the Bishop!?
Wow. The inmates running the asylum.
Do any college students who believe this to be a good idea consider the potential consequences of your arrogance? Is the GUSA going to take responsibility for “bathroom rapes” that have increased at other colleges when dorms became coed? Is the GUSA going to police the dorms to try to prevent such from happening? Will female (and perhaps some male) students be permitted to arm themselves with deadly weapons for their own protection?
For a change, use your brains instead of persisting with your hedonism and trying to convince us that your views result from logic. “Gender-blind housing would be very beneficial to the Georgetown community.” For which part of the community? We’re not stupid, so don’t insult those of us who know how wrong the idea of coed rooms are with your attempts to explain the concept as appropriate and safe. Don’t insult us. If you want to live in a sinful relationship, do so on your property. This plan is not appropriate at a Catholic college.
As a physician, I have a problem with gender-blind dorm housing for young individuals ages 18-21. This is based on recent findings in neurobiology that the pre-frontal lobe of the brain is not fully developed until early 20′s.This is area of brain having to do with judgement. Combine this with fact area of brain having to do with sexuul arousal is firing on all cylinders, you now have a perfect storm!!!
I am appalled that s supposedly religious institution would even consider something like this. I have known of a number of occasions where supposedly platonic couples living together have strayed into sexual relations when bored or tempted. The Georgetown administration would well remember that the moral choice is not necessarily the easiest, most enjoyable or most hip choice. Rather it is the right choice!
Several colleges have already been stripped of Catholic status. These include Manhattan Marymount and Marist College.
The simple fact is that only a handful of Catholic colleges adhere to the church’s teaching any more. Most have bowed to political correctness and are more interested in being accepted by the educational elites.
I graduated from a Jesuit university and sent my children to Catholic high schools. But, there is no way I would send them to 95% of today’s Catholic colleges.
My grandfather would say this about the stupidity of “broaching the subject”.
“All the fools are not dead yet.” There are any number of them who continue to walk among us. Those folks have not only lost their religious values, but have also lost their ever loving minds.
Well said.
Have they never heard of the Ten Commandments???
yikes !! What is the next crazy idea !!! Last I knew, Georgetown was a Catholic college with a mission aligned with the Catholic faith…so what happened ?? Political correctness..?? Be true to the tenets of our relgion, forget trying to be a hybrid of the “off the wall” Ivy’s…as a parent I would never spend my hard earned money to send my kids to a Catholic school that did not foster the values of the faith. Re-think this idea…it is wrought with problems.
I will now add Georgetown University to the list of catholic institutions that are abandoning Catholic doctrine; and ask the Lord for a conversion of heart of the leadership at these institutions. It would be a blessing if these leaders that are in favor of rejecting sound Catholic teachings would read St. Faustina’s diary entry 153, on page 86 of Divine Mercy in My Soul, Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska.
I actually think it would be better to send a child to an openly secular college or university than one like Georgetown. By claiming to be a “Catholic” or “Christian” institution, while at the same time tolerating and even encouraging sexual immorality, Georgetown sends a far worse message than anything that ever came out of UC Berkeley or the University of Colorado at Boulder!
This is a Catholic University???? Why would Catholic parents pay the high tuition of Georgetown when Georgetown does not promote Catholic values and doctrine?
“Hooking up” may be part of college for some students but not all of them! Part of the reason for attending or sending a child to a church school is to be around more of the latter type of students. Unfortunately when a “church” school like Georgetown abdicates its responsibility to stand up for what’s right it becomes harder for those chaste students to resist temptation!
Maybe, it would be better to send the young to Opus Dei-run schools instead. On the elementary and high school level, Opus Dei schools are STRICTLY sexually segregated, with teachers sharing the same sex as their students, although the support staff is often mixed. Even Opus Dei centers and residences are strictly sexually segregated. It is only in the university level, such as the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain and the University of Asia and the Pacific in Manila,Philippines is sexual segregation relaxed a bit, permitting co-ed classes. But Opus Dei get-togethers are still sexually segregated, except when it involves couples.
+BOOK OF PSALMS
Psalm 57(58)
Si vere utique. David reproveth the wicked, and foretelleth their punishment.
[1] Unto the end, destroy not, for David, for an inscription of a title.
[2] If in very deed you speak justice: judge right things, ye sons of men. [3] For in your heart you work iniquity: your hands forge injustice in the earth. [4] The wicked are alienated from the womb; they have gone astray from the womb: they have spoken false things. [5] Their madness is according to the likeness of a serpent: like the deaf asp that stoppeth her ears: [6] Which will not hear the voice of the charmers; nor of the wizard that charmeth wisely.
[7] God shall break in pieces their teeth in their mouth: the Lord shall break the grinders of the lions. [8] They shall come to nothing, like water running down; he hath bent his bow till they be weakened. [9] Like wax that melteth they shall be taken away: fire hath fallen on them, and they shall not see the sun. [10] Before your thorns could know the brier; he swalloweth them up, as alive, in his wrath.
[11] The just shall rejoice when he shall see the revenge: he shall wash his hands in the blood of the sinner. [12] And man shall say: If indeed there be fruit to the just: there is indeed a God that judgeth them on the earth.+
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