Mixed Gender Suites for the Class of 2011

Following extensive information gathering from sister institutions, masters, and deans, as well as various student groups on campus, and in the context of thoughtful consideration of the potential impact of such policies on Yale’s residential college housing system, Mary Miller, Dean of Yale College, and Jonathan Holloway, Chair of the Council of Masters, are happy to announce that Yale has adopted a Mixed Gender Suites option for seniors with the following conditions:

1. Each bedroom within a suite must be single sex. A man and a woman may not occupy a double bedroom, but they can elect to live in separate single bedrooms within a suite.
2. No student will be assigned to a mixed-gender suite against his or her will.
3. Mixed-gender housing groups will get no advantage or disadvantage in the housing selection process. If they are not able to select a suite that can accommodate them, they may need to break into different groups that may or may not be mixed gender.
4. Students in intimate relationships are strongly discouraged from entering into a shared suite arrangement.

This expansion of housing policy has been reviewed and studied since 2008, when an ad hoc committee appointed by then-Dean (now Provost) Peter Salovey took up consideration of gender-neutral housing, as it is termed at many other institutions. Subsequently, a proposal for mixed-gender suites was considered by the Housing Council (a standing committee of Yale College), and in February 2009, the Council of Masters reviewed the Committee’s recommendations and endorsed them, clearing the way for further consideration by other stakeholder groups. The recommendations were then reviewed by the Officers of the University and the Corporation, who requested at that time that action be tabled pending gathering of further data. Dean Miller then appointed Deans Marichal Gentry and John Meeske to serve as a task force, and they have studied the expansion of housing policies and programs at other institutions over the past year. With this year of study complete, the program for rising seniors will be launched for the room draw that will take place in the colleges after the spring break.

This new housing policy will be evaluated during its first year; a committee of masters and deans will report to the YCDO, Council of Masters, and University Officers in January 2011.