KU students, propelled by the firing of a student employee who had spoken out, marched Wednesday to the housing offices in protest of the university’s decision to end gender-inclusive housing at Grace Pearson Scholarship Hall next year.
GP has provided gender-inclusive housing for years, but in February the university announced it was removing that option for the 2025-26 school year. GP residents have protested the change.
Junior Anthony Alvarez, a KU student and proctor for the hall — a position similar to a resident assistant — said he was fired in March for helping to hang a banner protesting the decision and speaking to the media about the policy change.
Before being fired, Alvarez said, he had multiple meetings with members of KU’s housing office and was barred from entering the building without being accompanied by his boss, blocking him from accessing his possessions.
He had originally applied to continue his role as a proctor at KU but was reassigned to K.K. Amini Hall, the only remaining scholarship hall with gender-inclusive housing assignments. He said this was because KU Housing worried he wouldn’t enforce the new rules on gendered housing and bathrooms at GP.
On Wednesday, students protested the firing and removal of gender-inclusive housing outside Strong Hall before marching toward the KU Housing & Residence Life office at the north end of campus, chanting “GIA is here to stay” and “Trans rights are human rights.”
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In February, residents were asked by KU Housing to remove decorations supporting gender-inclusive housing and faced conduct cases when they refused to do so.
KU junior Meghan Arias’ window at GP displays the message “love wins.” Arias has lived at GP for all three years of college and has been involved in protests over the last few months. Arias said the protests have drawn wide community support.
“We’ve had multiple faculty members in all sorts of departments show up for protests and even offered to put up our banners in a department office,” Arias said.
Arias decried the firing of Alvarez, saying the proctor was “being truthful and honest about the terrible decisions, the transphobic decisions, that Housing has made.”
“Anthony is loved by everyone in our building,” Arias said. “He’s a friend and he’s an advocate. That’s why he got fired: advocating for us, for our hall.”
Gender-inclusive housing options still exist at one other scholarship hall and in some dorms, but all at a higher price than GP. Alvarez said KU Housing offers scholarships that can help make up the difference between costs but said he was worried these scholarships would not be guaranteed for future years. And many students have expressed frustration that the unique GP community will be lost.
Alvarez said he was committed to fighting for gender-inclusive housing at GP because he has seen firsthand how the inclusive space can encourage students to be themselves.
“I know people that have transitioned within their time at GP just because they’re around so many trans people,” Alvarez said. “They can get a bunch of information they couldn’t otherwise, and they can be connected to resources that they wouldn’t have otherwise.”
He was surprised by how much support he received from unexpected places, including faculty and classmates.
“I think a lot of the people in GP and, like, I personally would say that this experience makes you feel as though your university doesn’t see you as a part of the fabric of campus,” Alvarez said.
KU spokesperson Erinn Barcomb-Peterson said in February the university needed to be in compliance with the International Building Code.
A February email from the KU housing department to residents of Grace Pearson said “multi-stalled bathrooms in residential dormitory buildings are required by International Building Code (IBC Chapter 29, 2902.2) to have separate facilities provided by sex.” The email refers to the 2018 IBC.
The 2024 IBC, though, includes language about multiple-user facilities “designed to serve all genders.”
“KU Housing will continue to support its residents in navigating this change to meet their housing needs,” Barcomb-Peterson said.
On Feb. 19, the KU Student Senate passed a resolution asking the university to reverse the decision.
Alvarez said he wanted to encourage people to fight back when institutions accept changes that could hurt people in the community.
“We see too many people roll over and accept these changes,” Alvarez said.
Barcomb-Peterson and representatives of KU Housing did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment for this article.
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Cuyler Dunn (he/him), a contributor to The Lawrence Times since April 2022, is a student at the University of Kansas School of Journalism. He is a graduate of Lawrence High School where he was the editor-in-chief of the school’s newspaper, The Budget, and was named the 2022 Kansas High School Journalist of the Year. Read his complete bio here. Read more of his work for the Times here.
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