Phase three of Syracuse University’s housing reservation process ended Thursday at 5 p.m., with numbers of how many people took advantage of the option released Tuesday. The number of students who signed up neither met nor failed to meet expectations, Simmons said. Those who signed up said they are following the growing national trend of students who choose to room with friends regardless of sex. But others in the university community expressed concerns of impropriety as well as potential roommate conflicts for romantic couples.

For the first time, opposite-sex students could sign up to live in the same residence. Students could select a roommate of the opposite sex for two-person suites on Main Campus or apartments on South Campus for the 2010-11 school year. Watson Hall, Booth Hall, DellPlain Hall, Washington Arms and Haven Hall all have suites that were options for gender-neutral housing, in addition to the two-person apartments on South Campus, Simmons said. This provides 776 options, according to the SU housing Web site.

Simmons said the 82 students who signed up for the option wasn’t below or above expectations, as she wasn’t sure how many students would use the new program.

SU joins the ranks of more than three dozen colleges and universities across the United States that offer this housing option. Gender-neutral housing programs allow upperclassmen to select roommates with whom they are the most comfortable, regardless of gender. Gender relations have evolved over time, as students 18 to 24 years old are four times more likely than those over 55 to have a best friend of the opposite gender, Simmons said.

Amit Taneja, associate director of SU’s LGBT Resource Center, said there has been a ‘generational shift over the years’ that has made it acceptable to room with a person of the opposite sex.

“Ultimately, the goal of the policy is to increase options that work for students,” he said.

In talking with colleagues from other universities offering the gender-neutral housing option, good friends of the opposite sex are much more likely to utilize this option than romantic couples, Taneja said.

Student Association Vice President Angelo Coker said the option is a “growing trend among universities around the country” that doesn’t force people to room with the same sex if they’re uncomfortable with it. Students who are gay and are more comfortable living with the opposite sex now have the option to, he said.

“Those who are now comfortable with being openly gay, lesbian or transgender, it’s easier now for them to attend a college of their choice, not having to worry about if it’s gay-friendly,” he said.

SA President Jon Barnhart expected the modest turnout, he said.

“With its first year in progress, I don’t expect a huge turnout,” he said. “However, I really do hope that students take advantage of it.”

But Barnhart’s chief of staff, Neal Casey, said he thinks the students will embrace the new housing option and help the program get off to a quick start.

“The student reaction is going to be probably very positive,” he said. “I think that most students don’t really care one way or the other the way the policy is, but I think that the students that will benefit the most will have great, positive feedback for the program.”

Over the past four years, various students at SU and the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry have approached university staff to ask them to consider gender-neutral housing, given that other institutions offered the option, Simmons said.

In fall 2008, the University Senate Committee on LGBT Concerns brought several students, faculty and staff together to consider the option. After several meetings, it was recommended that SU conduct a pilot program for gender-neutral housing for fall 2010. That pilot program was approved by the Student Affairs Subcommittee of the Board of Trustees in fall 2009, Simmons said.

“I really do think it shows a more inclusive atmosphere or an effort to make our campus more inclusive in a lot of ways,” Barnhart said. “It shows the open-mindedness of our student body to not only come out and say that they need this, (but) to say that this is something we want and something we need from our university.”

But some residents may feel uncomfortable with members of the opposite sex living together, whether because of religious reasons or how they were brought up, said Danielle Sutton, Residence Hall Association president.

The Campus Bible Fellowship, an evangelical student organization, disproves of the new housing option, said Sandy Jewell, a staff member of the group. It would be preferable if a man and a woman weren’t living together, she said.

Coker, SA vice president, is taking advantage of the gender-neutral housing option and will be rooming with Sima Taslakian, SA parliamentarian. They want to share an apartment on South Campus because they’re “literally best friends,” Taslakian said.

“For me personally, I don’t have that many girl friends,” Taslakian said. “I feel more comfortable with Angelo (Coker) than anyone else.”

Taslakian and Coker don’t expect any roommate conflicts, they both said.

But not all roommates are expected to blend as well as Coker and Taslakian. Residence hall staff members are preparing to handle conflicts that may arise from the new living arrangement, Sutton said. Under the current policy, same-sex couples can already room together, so residential advisers know how to handle “disputes between couples,” she said.

In terms of domestic violence, Sutton said a resident’s safety is the main concern.

“In any situation like that, they’re going to move that person immediately,” she said.

Another concern regarding the gender-neutral housing option is the residence hall’s structural layout. There is a limited supply of two-person suites on Main Campus and there aren’t any gender-neutral bathrooms, Barnhart said.

Coed bathrooms have become a part of many colleges and universities across America, sometimes causing problems among residents. At Vermont’s Green Mountain College, a student filed a lawsuit against Vermont’s Department of Public Safety for the scarcity of single-sex bathrooms, according to an article published in the Daily Orange on Jan. 26.

For the future, Barnhart said he looks for SU to experiment with gender-neutral open and split-double dorm rooms.

“I believe that if the pilot program goes really well in the next few years, we’ll have a completely gender-neutral residence hall system,” he said.

The open and split-double rooms are not in the formal plans for the gender-neutral pilot program, and may not be included in the future should the program succeed past the first year, Taneja said.

Barnhart said SU is evolving to modern-day standards with the gender-neutral housing option.

“I really do think that, without having to rebuild the wheel, we’re able to take the old soul of Syracuse University and really make sure it adapts to its student body and the changing ideas and values of this country,” he said.