On Thursday, the 4th of April 2024, George Washington University (GW), a private four-year institution located in the Foggy Bottom area of Washington, D.C. released the 2024-2025 Academic Year housing assignments for rising second, third, and fourth-year undergraduate students. GW housing assignments for the 2024-2025 Academic Year were conducted in a discriminatory and harmful manner, coming into direct conflict with both the expressed needs of different students, and their own explicitly stated rules. 

     Students were systematically excluded from University housing. All first and second-year students at GW are required to reside in University housing. Many students were waitlisted for housing, or denied from predetermined housing groups by the housing registration system. Exclusion of students from University housing on a purely arbitrary basis both conflicts with expressed University policy, and puts the health and safety of said students at risk. The average cost of rent in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood  for a 1-bedroom apartment is $2,707 per month, far beyond the means of many University students. Denial of student housing reinforces attitudes and institutions which favor students of a higher socioeconomic class. Housing denial by GW additionally reinforces a homogenous and exclusive socioeconomic environment. 

     Students with Disability Support Services (DSS) housing accommodations were denied proper accommodations. GW requires that DSS housing accommodations have corresponding Section 504 documentation, and a Campus Living and Residential Education (CLRE) approved exigence. Many students with pre-approved DSS housing accommodations were denied from the housing for which they had previously been approved. Denial of approved DSS accommodations puts the safety and livelihood of persons with disabilities at risk of harm from the institution which is meant to protect them. Denial of University housing accommodations on the basis of disability stands in violation of both the Fair Housing Act, and the DC Human Rights Act of 1977. 

     Students identifying as LGBTQ+ were deadnamed and treated in a manner inconsistent with their identity. GW housing application provided a box for students to put a preferred name and gender identity, if different from their University registered name. This is meant for all persons of a gender or sexual identity inconsistent with their legally expressed information to be safe and comfortable in University housing. Upon the release of housing information, students expressing a preferred name or gender identity were ignored, with deadnames being released on housing records. These actions violate Chapter 8 Title 4 of the District of Columbia Municipal Regulations (DCMR); they also put the health and safety of LGBTQ+ individuals at risk. 

     Students were placed in co-ed housing involuntarily and when otherwise expressed. Male and female identifying students were assigned to involuntarily room with students of the opposite expressed gender. This is not only in direct violation with University housing rules, but puts students at risk of mental duress and neglect of safety. 50% of women and 30% of men have been victims of sexual assault. Involuntary placement of students both with members of the opposite gender and outside of expressed housing groups puts the lives of students in question at risk. 

     We call upon George Washington University to reverse the determined housing assignments, and consult the expressed preferences and necessities of the thousands of students going through the housing process. 

Image Credit: GW Media