Penn State Housing clapped back at the University Park Undergraduate Association on Twitter Wednesday night in response to legislation the UPUA passed to support advertising inclusive housing options to first-year students.

Resolution 31-12 Support of Inclusive Housing Option Advertising to First-Year Students was passed unanimously by UPUA’s 12th Assembly at its weekly meeting Wednesday.

The resolution explains that the Association of Residence Hall Students (ARHS) worked with Residence Life and Housing to create the gender-neutral housing option in 2014 to better serve students who identify as transgender or gender non-conforming. This year ARHS and UPUA have not worked as closely, so some initiatives have been stalled as “…administrative units have halted work with the UPUA in the absence of AHRS…” according to the resolution.

Gender-neutral housing is currently offered to students who contact Housing and go through a screening process before the beginning of the school year, but isn’t well-advertised to students when they fill out their eLiving preferences, so many students (especially first-year students) don’t know the option exists.

The resolution recommends the gender-neutral housing option be made available as a checkbox on the eLiving website for students to opt in to communications with more information, and suggests students who opt in be provided with a single point of contact to help them through the request process. It also condemns Ancillary Services for its lack of responsiveness to student issues and input.

Resolution 33-12, Support of Inclusive Housing Option Advertising to First-Year Students passes unanimously. On behalf of the Undergraduate Student Body, we recommend that the gender-neutral option is made available to students on the eLiving website.

— University Park Undergraduate Association (@UPUA) March 15, 2018

The UPUA live tweets its meetings and as such tweeted that the resolution passed unanimously. Here’s where things get interesting. Penn State Housing replied to UPUA, saying the resolution sounded similar to an initiative ARHS has already implemented.

This sounds very similar to the initiative that @ARHSpennState has already implemented by working with us in Housing! Interesting.

— Penn State Housing (@housingPSU) March 15, 2018

Interesting. I can almost taste the sarcasm.

Resolution co-sponsor and UPUA Student Life Chair Kyleigh Higie (also an Onward State staffer) explained both UPUA and ARHS should be advocating for the expansion of gender-neutral housing, and said not much progress has been made in the past year even though UPUA has tried to communicate with Housing.

I’m sorry to hear that you feel that way; a new process will be unveiled this fall for upper-class students interested in this option.

— Penn State Housing (@housingPSU) March 15, 2018

Gender-neutral housing will continue to be offered to first-year students on a case-by-case basis, no changes will be made due to other circumstances with that population.

— Penn State Housing (@housingPSU) March 15, 2018

Call me crazy, but tweeting at students unprofessionally at night doesn’t seem like a best practice. UPUA Speaker Brent Rice criticized housing for just that.

https://twitter.com/BrentRicePSU/status/974103763131781120

Housing said gender-neutral housing isn’t being “offered outwardly on contract” for first-year students for “some reasons” but didn’t go into detail on what those reasons might be.

I’m sorry to hear you feel that way! Please reach out to discuss – we always support students living with us & work 1:1 w/those that are interested in a housing assignment to meet their need-it’s just not being offered outwardly on contract for FY students for some reasons.

— Penn State Housing (@housingPSU) March 15, 2018

“The UPUA has persistently advocated for Gender Neutral Housing to be better advertised to first-year students,” Higie said via email. First-year students experience a great deal of change and adjustment, which can be extremely stressful. Thus, inclusive housing options should be equally as accessible to first years as they are to upperclass students.

“We hope that ARHS, whose leadership spearheaded the Gender Neutral Housing initiative in 2014-2015, would strive for the program to serve all students who wish to access it. We will not stop our advocacy for the improvement of communication regarding GNH for first-year students and we would love the support of ARHS in this endeavor.”

Representative Sophie Haiman said when the Assembly was discussing the resolution that this is the type of initiative that makes her proud to serve students in UPUA.

Inclusive housing is equally as important for first-year students as it is for upperclassmen, if not more important as new students are finding their home here in Happy Valley. Housing should do everything in its power to work with organizations like ARHS and UPUA and ensure all students are aware of and able to take advantage of opportunities that will make them feel more comfortable on campus.

But instead it’s spending Wednesday nights tweeting at student leaders who have committed themselves to bettering student life at Penn State.

You can see the resolution passed by UPUA in full below.