On the Tory's Gender-Neutral housing issue
Things I’m thankful for this November: British electropop, $2 eggrolls at the U-Store, and The Princeton Tory.Passion at Princeton thrills me. Students here are often accused of being apathetic; Tory writers are anything but. No subject is too large or too small for the publication to take on. Any brutal assault on our moral heritage is one brutal assault too many.Sometimes, though, I do wish they knew when to pull back. I’m big on seeing Princetonians succeed; I’m a sucker for dreams come true. So let me give this advice: if Tory editors want to someday become top Republican strategists – Uber-Roves who usher in an age of permanent GOP majorities – then they’ve got to learn not to make silly tactical mistakes like devoting practically an entire magazine to the non-issue of gender-neutral housing.I’m reminded of the Mormon Church’s recent decision to support a Salt Lake City ordinance outlawing “discrimination against gay men and lesbians in housing and employment.” Why was this a great move? Because now the church can more convincingly say, “We didn’t oppose Prop 8 because we’re unreasonably anti-gay – look at our support for the Salt Lake City law! Nope, we just want to protect traditional marriage. What’s so wrong about that?”Lesson: Concede something small and unimportant to gain a big and very important tactical advantage. Gender-neutral housing? Not that big of a deal. Really. Here’s why:The pilot program will only change room-draw procedures in Spelman – and even then, mixed-gender draw groups won’t get any favoritism. Those that do manage to snag a suite will move into four separate (lockable) bedrooms. In the real world that would hardly be considered scandalous.Princeton’s program isn’t some harebrained liberal scheme pushed through by (in the words of Brandon McGinley) a “radical cabal”. (Though it's hard to hate on that kind of colorful language; it will serve Tory writers well in those future political careers.)We’re not even the first school in New Jersey to allow these living arrangements – Montclair State has had a similar mixed policy for one of their apartment-style buildings for the last five years. News update: Montclair State University, founded in 1908 in bucolic Essex County, New Jersey, is still standing after five years of gender-neutral housing.And by the Tory’s own estimate, very few undergraduates at Princeton will opt for mixed-gender suites. So what’s the harm in allowing a few students (including, possibly, transgender Princetonians uncomfortable with other arrangements) this choice?Of course, there could be something I’m missing here. But it seems to me that campus social conservatives could have gained some not-insignificant credibility by saying,“We’re not inflexible people. We don’t automatically oppose any initiative that LGBT groups support. In fact, we have no problem with this attempt to support a minority group that finds certain elements of the modern college experience uniquely challenging.”“I mean, come on: we love supporting a minority group that finds certain elements of the modern college experience uniquely challenging! Who doesn’t? You guys, let’s all agree to support a minority group that finds certain elements of the modern college experience uniquely challenging!”“Can we all do that? We can? Great! Now about that Center for Abstinence and Chastity…”Photo: