TO THE EDITOR:
This letter is in response to Ross Twele’s Oct. 24 letter.
As both an on-campus resident and residence life leader, I support any movement that not only contributes to the safety, empowerment and happiness of all residents, but that challenges our community to look beyond our own lens and contribute to creating a more inclusive community.
This argument, like most negative responses to gender-neutral housing, maintain the heteronormative “fears” of the retribution of including a safe and accommodating option for students that differs from the “spectrum” of societal expectations.
But, frankly, I am humored that an argument would brave into the territory of inviting “sexual predation” into the debate of gender-neutral housing. “(The) University cannot and must not create or condone an environment where sexual predation may occur on campus ground,” Twele mentions, arguing that, by offering a living arrangement that is “optional,” the University would be “condoning” sexual violence.
I’m sorry to share spoilers, but sexual violence is already occurring at UNC. As a peer educator for One Act and HAVEN, I challenge you to get trained, and educate yourself on the reality of sexual violence at UNC.
Are you aware that one in four women and one in six men around you have or will experience sexual violence?
This is a reality that is even more persistent in institutions of higher learning that fail to offer inclusive on campus housing options.
Sexual violence knows no filter, knows no restriction and cannot be “prevented” by utilizing privilege to inhibit a minority population from seeking an option that is offered to every other student: the opportunity to seek an ideal community experience, regardless of their expression.
