At Wednesday’s Student Senate meeting, James Coney, Charlotte first-year and Student Senate member, said he had concerns about gender-inclusive housing and the price difference between available housing options.
“It would seem that the college has made a change in policy,” Coney said. “(And) is no longer allowing roommate groups of the opposite sex (to live in Seaton), but they are allowing it in Whitehouse, which only comes with the caveat of an extra $500 a semester.”
According to the Director of Community Living Joey Koehn – who started his position in July – they went “back to the original policy,” listed on their website. Except, their website still lists Mitchell Towers as gender-inclusive housing.
“Our website does say it includes Mitchell Towers,” Koehn said, adding that Community Living is “going back to the original expectation” that gender-inclusive housing would only exist in Whitehouse and The Mae.
Director of the Anna Howard Shaw Center for Gender Equity and Victim Advocate Lisa Winchell-Caldwell, alumna ‘06, was hired around the same time as Koehn last summer.
“My understanding is that Seaton Hall doesn’t currently have gender-inclusive housing and I wasn’t aware students anticipated it being offered as gender-inclusive housing, so unfortunately it wasn’t discussed in the meetings that covered housing selection,” Winchell-Caldwell said yesterday via email. “Neither of us anticipated this being viewed as a policy change.”
It was a surprise for Tabitha Dery, Grand Blanc senior, however, who currently lives in Seaton with their partner, who does not share their biological sex.
Dery had the earliest time slot of their housing group on Monday, day one of room selection, and planned to stay in their current residence hall, Seaton, and live with their partner, but was unable to register for a room, Dery said.
On Feb. 11, Koehn emailed students about housing, with the subject line “2025-2026 Room Selection Process – Important Information & Key Dates.” Attached to the email – though not explicitly mentioned within the email’s contents – was the Room Selection Process Guidebook in PDF format, which included updated gender-inclusive housing offerings
Wednesday’s Student Senate Meeting
Student Senate President and Lansing senior Kara Anderson said she understands “students’ concern that (gender-inclusive housing) does seem to be shrinking.”
Anderson added that earlier that day she, Koehn, Vice President for Student Development and Dean of Students Leroy Wright and Assistant Dean for Campus Life Sharese Shannon-Mathis discussed problems with the pricing difference and “the shift in policy” that Seaton is no longer having gender-inclusive housing.
In response to Coney, Wright said this has to do with “low enrollment.”
“We have to honor the requests for what students need,” Wright said, adding that students with concerns should “speak specifically” with Koehn “to outline what those specific needs and requests are.”
According to Wright, “gender-inclusive housing is not going away” and has instead been re-named to “flexible housing.”
“Based on the requests from students from this year, the issue that they had was the single-gendered restrooms,” Wright said. “So, moving it to Whitehouse and other areas where there is actually a suite-style environment was to address that concern that students have raised about not having more privacy.”
In response to Wright’s advice for students to reach out to Community Living, Coney said he had further concerns.
“It does seem like a lot of onus to be putting on the students themselves to have to go directly to the director of Community Living,” Coney said. “When it seems like in previous years this was something that could be handled exclusively through the housing portal.”
Student Experience: ‘They’re Not Being Transparent’
When Dery experienced an issue registering for housing, as Wright suggested in the Senate meeting, they emailed Community Living for assistance. Dery said they were told that Seaton is a single sex per room dorm and they were ineligible to register for a Seaton room, given that they “‘registered (their) sex with the college to be the opposite sex of the person (they) are attempting to room with. Gender-inclusive dorms are in Whitehouse Hall.’”
Dery said that, unfortunately, they are unable to live in Whitehouse “because (it’s) not currently affordable,” and after that, Community Living “stopped responding.”
As of the 2024-2025 academic year, the price for a double room with a roommate in Seaton is $6,080, while a double room in Whitehouse is is $6,430.
“We have a right to equitable, inclusive housing, especially when that’s something Albion prides itself in,” Dery said.
After they emailed Community Living, Dery turned to Winchell-Caldwell, who they said was an “amazing advocate.”
In an email sent to the Pleiad yesterday, Dery said that “as of this afternoon, the rooming situation has been resolved,” and after contacting Koehn with the help of Winchell-Caldwell, they have a room for next semester in Seaton.
“While this works for our particular situation, there is still a remaining concern that this scenario could happen again and that the college doesn’t have the proper systems in place to really accommodate other students,” Dery said in the email.
Koehn said he recommends that students reach out to Community Living if they have concerns, and that students “don’t have to meet with us if they feel comfortable disclosing whatever they want to disclose via email.”
“We’re definitely flexible and open to meeting with students. We want to support them holistically to meet all of their needs to the best that we can. We won’t say no unless it’s something we just absolutely can’t accommodate,” Koehn said.
Community Living has “been working to respond to student requests quickly and to document the concerns in a way that informs the process for next year,” Winchell-Caldwell said yesterday via email.“None of us want to increase barriers for students or create more stress for them.”
Winchell-Caldwell also said in the email that she wants to ensure that “students who are concerned about their housing arrangements and needing a gender-inclusive space know that they can receive support from my office and from Community Living.”
“If students have ideas about how we can move forward with the policy with proposals to move forward for the ‘26/’27 academic year or beyond, I’m also more than happy and willing to hear students out and hear their thoughts and ideas and suggestions,” Koehn said.
Contact Community Living via email at [email protected] and Windchell-Caldwell at [email protected].
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