Damn.
"ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — Transgender students say University of North Carolina Asheville's new housing policy requirements target trans students, UNCA says that’s false.
News 13 has confirmed an updated UNCA policy that dates back to 2013, that may force transgender students living in dorms to live with suitemates who’s sex they don’t identify with.
News 13 spoke with three students who received notice of an on-campus housing policy change. All report they are transgender. Each said UNCA is requiring documentation of their legal gender that may include their gender at birth.
The
UNC Policy Manual on campus housing obtained by News 13 shows it was adopted by the UNC System on August 9, 2013.
The policy reads: “The constituent institutions shall not assign members of the opposite sex to any institutionally owned and operated dormitory room, dormitory suite, or campus apartment unless the students are siblings, parent and child, or they are legally married. This policy applies to housing assignments beginning with the fall 2013 semester.”
On June 11, UNCA’s Housing and Residential Life department sent a six-paragraph email to some students living in dorm rooms.
The email reads in part: “We are reaching out to you today with an update about Housing and Residence Life policy and procedures that will require a change in your housing assignment.” “Please schedule an appointment between June 11 and June 19 to speak with a staff member from Housing and Residence Life.”
“I’m in Aspen Hall on the first floor,” said Ryan Foster, a rising senior at UNCA who identifies as male. “The only separation that occurs is within the rooms themselves.”
Foster said the policy at UNCA says suitemates must be same sex, but dorms are co-ed on all floors. Foster is paying for year-round housing on campus.
Now Foster and other trans students said they’re worried and angered about new DEI policies and this housing change.
“I’ve been consistently identifying as male for longer than I’ve been a student here. The initial email they sent was extremely vague. It kind of sends a lot of people into kind of a panic," Foster said.
Foster said he called UNCA’s housing department and spoke with a staff member.
Foster is worried for other trans students on campus. He’s especially angry because UNCA for years has promoted itself as an inclusive liberal university, he said.
He finds the changing UNCA climate hypocritical and said policy changes have been extreme since the Trump administration took over.
“Right now, we’re just at a point where we’re trying to keep each other safe. All I want to do is exist. All anyone wants to do is exist," Foster said.
UNCA spokesman Brian Hart emailed a statement in response to allegations of the updated policy targeting trans students:
“I was drawn to this school because it had been advertised as very heavily left-leaning liberal arts school. Over at the library at the quad they used to have these giant banners, three banners. One of them was a pride flag, one was a land acknowledgement, and one I believe was a Black Lives Matter banner. All of those things are now gone.," Foster said. "They just cut a bunch of our liberal arts programs and they’re quickly turning UNCA into the opposite of what they’re still advertising themselves as. I’m concerned for my community here. I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Transgender students say University of North Carolina Asheville's new housing policy requirements target trans students, UNCA says that’s false.
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