The Student Government Association met on Tuesday with an agenda that discussed the B.U.C. Fund consent calendar and two pieces of legislation centered on making ETSU more gender neutral.The B.U.C. Fund consent calendar consisted of events ranging from conferences for Panhellenic and IFC to diversity events that would bring comedian Kevin Hart to Brooks Gym to perform a comedy routine.

There was little debate following the pulling of certain items on the consent calendar. All organizations, except for HOSA, were funded fully or partially with the allocations totaling $60,460.

Following the B.U.C. Fund consent calendar, two pieces of legislation that were geared toward a more gender neutral direction on the ETSU campus were debated and passed.

One piece of legislation, SSR-128-11, was for gender neutral restrooms for the private bathrooms on campus. There are currently 44 signs that would need to be changed and that would cost an estimated $440. This legislation passed with a 20-1-1 vote.

The other piece of legislation was SSR-126-11 and it consisted of asking university officials to look into offering a gender neutral residential option for students who choose to live on campus.

Along with this, the legislation considers finding a way to modify the random roommate placement procedure for student living.

Sen. Dalton Collins, who is one of the sponsors of this legislation, made it very clear that this was a process in the beginning stages and that a student survey would be conducted to find out opinions regarding the subject of gender neutral housing.

Collins also spoke about how this would work best within an apartment setting with private rooms. He mentioned how the options for preferences with a random roommate are very minimal.

Gender neutral housing is already being implemented successfully at 28 other universities. The majority of universities are Ivy League schools but the most recent university to go to gender neutral housing is the University of Michigan where it has been operating without incident.

This legislation was presented with much thought and brought attention to the different hardships that students go through when making the transition from living at home to living on a campus.

This puts a student in a position where they might not know a single person of their own sex.

Sen. Jared Leftrick, who is also a sponsor on this legislation, said, “There are students like myself that came to this university not knowing a soul, except for a female.”

“Sometimes, if you had the option to room with somebody that you knew already, it would make the situation a lot easier to get accommodated to the school.”

Kendall Standridge, co-president of LGBTies, was in attendance and spoke regarding the challenges that someone faces when they have a roommate and do not know their stance on homosexuality.

“I spent one year on campus and went through three roommates just because they were not fine with it,” Standridge said.

“I would have loved to have a roommate that was cool with it but because that was not an option, I got stuck with random people who weren’t.”

Standridge said that if she could keep one student from having to go through that, it would mean the world to her.

Sen. Travis Clark said this was a good idea.

“This legislation shows that these people are dehumanized in a way and I think this is a positive step.”

The legislation passed with a 19-3-0 vote.

Collins said that if this legislation passed and went through all of the proper channels, ETSU would be the first university in Tennessee to implement this gender neutral housing option. Collins has considered the fact that Tennessee is not always the most open area for ideas like this.

“We do live in a very conservative demographic,” Collins said.

“However, we have to remember that we are here to serve the students and do what is best for the students at this university.”

Cabinet member and former senator Zack Walden was very excited about the prospects of this legislation following it being passed.

“ETSU is a family, and it is important to consider the needs of every member of our family,” Walden said. “It is vital that we accommodate the needs of all students.

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