Daily Archives: September 15, 2010

Watermark: “CNN came under fire the weekend after labor day when its Headline News Network affiliate posted an online poll asking if ‘the surge in gay TV characters bad for society.’ GLAAD immediately responded and requested the major news network remove the offensive online poll.”

Baptist Press: “Dr. Yin-Kann Wen has a distinguished career as an economic scholar, including 20 years serving as a senior economist at the World Bank . . . By following the money trail, Dr. Wen can clearly see the ‘dangerous direction’ in which America is headed. He believes our current course began with the rejection of God’s financial principles that warn against debt and overconsumption.”

“Benedict’s argument, to be made most dramatically tomorrow at the Palace of Westminster, is that an exclusive or extreme secularism that drives all religious values and voices out of public life leaves itself defenceless against the tyranny of passing trends. A Europe that cuts itself off from its religious roots puts at risk the foundation of a free and virtuous society.”

“The Utah Highway Patrol Association wants the full 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse a panel of its own judges and leave in place 14 memorial crosses along Utah’s highways.”

CatholicCulture.org: “The death toll from the September 13 anti-Christian rampage in Kashmir has reached 19, according to Vatican Radio. Following false reports that a Florida Protestant minister had proceeded with his plans to burn the Qu’ran, Muslim protestors bombed a Catholic school and attacked two Protestant schools. The bishops of India had condemned the planned Qu’ran burning.”

Boston.com (AP): “A Craigslist official told lawmakers Wednesday that the classified ad website has no plans to resume its adult services section and defended the company’s efforts to stop the sexual exploitation of minors.”

“No court ruling can stop Islamic terror, but court rulings can limit our liberty. Let’s leave our constitutional doctrine alone and trust our military to protect our lives.”

Bluegrass Policy Blog: “U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves has ruled that Kentucky’s special interest election law limiting individuals’ contributions to candidates for local school board races is unconstitutional. The law restricts contributions from individuals to $100 while the union continues to poor hundreds of thousands into the campaign of its chosen candidates. That unfair and unbalanced policy gives teachers’ unions a hugely unfair advantage in controlling those political school board races.”

Christian Science Monitor: “Michelle Rhee, the D.C. schools chancellor, launched aggressive school reforms under Mayor Adrian Fenty. But with Vincent Gray’s win Tuesday, she’ll probably be ousted.”

Christian Science Monitor: “‘Tea party’ advocate Dick Armey, chairman of Freedom Works, says that if Republicans take control of Congress in November’s elections, changing policies on social issues like abortion will be on their agenda.”

Family Research Council Action President Tony Perkins: “‘The Republican establishment is in shock today after FRC Action PAC-endorsed candidate Christine O’Donnell defeated liberal Republican Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.) in the Delaware Senate primary. Immediately she was denounced, not congratulated, by Rep. Castle, as well as Karl Rove, who seems to have a personal vendetta against the candidate.’”

ACLU: “The American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) filed a friend of the court brief today in a case challenging a government policy that requires private organizations that receive federal funding for HIV/AIDS prevention to explicitly state that they oppose prostitution and sex trafficking. The ACLU is challenging this policy on the grounds that it restricts the free speech rights of private organizations and poses significant obstacles to groups working with vulnerable populations to contain the HIV/AIDS pandemic.” ACLU brief in AOSI vs. USAID.

California Family Council: “Now, with boldness and power, millions of students plan to gather at their school flagpoles on September 22 – to PRAY for their schools, for their teachers, for classmates, and for their communities.” | SYATP website

“About 200 members of a Roswell church are protesting discipline against students who tried to leave doughnuts with religious messages for their teachers.”

“Just over two-thirds of people (67 per cent) believe gay couples should be allowed to marry, according to an Irish Times /Behaviour Attitudes social poll.”

The Hill: “Gay-rights activists say they are resigned to the fact that the House will not vote before the midterm elections — and perhaps not this year — on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), a bill adding workplace protections for sexual orientation and gender identity.”

“Senator Reid announced yesterday that next week he’ll present the DREAM Act amnesty as an amendment to the defense spending bill. This is the bill that already includes the repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ and allows elective abortions at military hospitals. Maybe you could use ‘support the troops’ as a cudgel to get one of these things through; but to pack amnesty, gay rights, and abortion into a single defense bill and expect critics to be intimidated into voting for it strains credulity.”

Congratulations to allied attorneys William Becker, Jim Bopp, Dan Dalton, Ted Hoppe, Brian Hurley, John Mauck, Steven O’Ban, and Randy Wenger for their recent accomplishments and successes listed below. Please take time to congratulate them!

Chicagoist: “While the list of potential successors to Mayor Daley continues to grow daily, one name on that list – State Sen. James Meeks – has already put the city’s LGBT community on alert. On the heels of the Daley administration’s unprecedented support for LGBT Chicagoans, activists say a Meeks win – particularly if accompanied by a Bill Brady win in the gubernatorial race – could unravel the many gains the community has made in recent years.”

LifeSiteNews: “China’s Yunnan Province is implementing a new program to encourage chastity in students, using materials produced by the evangelical protestant organization Focus on the Family, according to local media reports.”

AnnArbor.com: “For the second time this week, Saline students and community members lobbied the district to change its non-discrimination policy and urged board members to set aside any moral or religious views on homosexuality. The debate centers on adding ‘sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression’ to the district’s non-discrimination policy. And like a committee meeting where the issue was discussed Monday, no resolution was reached during Tuesday’s full board meeting.”

LifeNews: “UN agencies and pro-abortion groups have told women and governmental bodies across the world that the only way to reduce maternal mortality is by legalizing abortions. Even though abortion has not been made legal in a slew of new nations, the UN today reports maternal mortality has declined by one-third.”

Freedom From Religion Foundation: “The Freedom From Religion Foundation has informed the Laurel County School District in London, Ky., that it’s illegal to let Gideons International distribute bibles to fifth-grade students. FFRF sent a letter Sept. 13 to school officials after receiving a complaint from one of its Kentucky members. According to an Aug. 9 news story in the London Sentinel-Echo, the School Board approved distribution of New Testaments from tables inside county schools.”

ABC: “The International House of Pancakes is suing another IHOP, the International House of Prayer, saying the church mission shouldn’t be allowed to take advantage of the restaurant chain’s famous name and acronym.”

Catholic News Agency: “A hacker has attacked the website of the Florida Family Policy Council (FFPC), a group assisting the Christian convert Rifqa Bary. The hacker said he made the attack because of the group’s thinking about ‘Great Islam.’ The loss of the website could have consequences for the 2010 election in Florida, the group claimed.”

The Jakarta Post: “The Religious Affairs Ministry said Wednesday it was open to revisions of a 2006 joint ministerial decree requiring local consent on sites for house of worship, provided religious leaders agreed.”

The Jakarta Post: “The Bandung Administrative Court upheld a lawsuit filed by Rev. Bonar Napitupulu of HKBP Church in Bekasi, West Java, against a decree by Bekasi Regent Sa’duddin on the construction of a new house of worship.”

CNN: “Britain’s advertising watchdog has censured an Italian ice cream manufacturer over an advertisement depicting a heavily pregnant nun that appeared ahead of a papal visit to the UK.”

swissinfo.ch: “Researchers at Bern and Zurich universities have found that suicide rates are lower among people with an affiliation to one of Switzerland’s recognised churches.”

Reuters: “A new draft constitution, aimed at enhancing democracy and individual rights in Turkey, will not be ready to show voters before an election next July, a senior member of the ruling AK Party said on Wednesday.”

Newspost Online: “Hindus have applauded China for providing multi-religion religious service center and other facilities for religious services at the 16th Asian Games to be held in Guangzhou (China) from November 12 to 27.”

Sydney Morning Herald: “The proportion of Australian children attending Islamic schools and schools aligned with some Christian fundamentalist denominations has increased significantly over the past decade, despite declining national religiosity over the same period.”

National Post: “The European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) and the International Federation of Fertility Societies (IFFS) said a survey of reproductive services showed wide disparities between laws and practice in many countries. As a result, patients returning home may face legal or medical problems . . . Both IFFS and ESHRE support the rights of patients to travel to receive fertility treatment, but said in a joint statement that ‘ideally, this should take place in their home country.’”

The Christian Institute: “Earlier this year Holyrood introduced legislation stipulating that people who commit ‘hate crimes’ against homosexuals, transsexuals, the disabled and other minorities will face tougher penalties.”

AFP: “Indonesian police detained an Islamic extremist leader Wednesday over an armed assault on Christian elders which shocked moderates and raised fears for pluralism in the mainly Muslim country.”

Chad Groening writing at OneNewsNow: “A conservative military watchdog argues that the controversial Ninth Circuit has created a situation that will make it more difficult for the U.S. military to defend its decision to kick a lesbian nurse out of the Air Force Reserve.”

LifeNews: “Georgia voters favor pro-life gubernatorial candidate Nathan Deal over his challenger, Democrat Roy Barnes. A new Survey USA poll shows Deal has the backing of 49 percent to 38 percent for Barnes and Libertarian candidate John Monds had 9 percent.”

CBN News (video): “Steven Aden, senior legal counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund, discussed the immediate impact of the ruling and more on the Friday, September 10 edition of CBN Newschannel’s Morning program.”

LifeNews: “Two Wisconsin pro-life candidates won their respective primary election races on Tuesday and now head to general election contests that will pit them against abortion advocates. Scott Walker won the GOP nomination for governor and Ron Johnson became the Republican Senate candidate.”

LifeNews: “‘Christine O’Donnell’s win, combined with the successes of Carly Fiorina and Sharron Angle, continues building momentum for 2010 to be remembered as the “Year of the Pro-life Woman,”‘ SBA List president Marjorie Dannenfelser told LifeNews.com. ‘Christine O’Donnell’s come-from-behind victory is evidence that voters across America are hungry for conservative pro-life candidates.’ Meanwhile, in the New Hampshire Republican Senate primary, two pro-life candidates are separated by less than one percent in their bid to keep the seat of Republican Sen. Judd Gregg, who is pro-life.”

Wall Street Journal editorial, “Cheating Charter Schools” [full text via Google News]: “President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan have made charter schools a big part of their reform agenda, but the pushback from unions has been fierce. Perhaps that explains why the new $10 billion federal teacher bailout will be dispensed in a way that discriminates against charters.”

Greg Gutfeld writing at Big Hollywood: “On the CBS Early Show, Nancy Cordes portrayed O’Donnell as weird, because she quote, ‘crusaded for abstinence and against porn.’ Christine also wrote that ‘when a married person uses pornography, it compromises the spouse’s purity’ . . . is it really that fringy to say porn screws up relationships? Look, everyone over 30 knows that. You don’t need ANY religion to make that conclusion. And if you believe that porn is harmless, then clearly you’ve only dabbled in it.”

Dallas Morning News: “The board will consider a resolution next week that would warn publishers not to push a pro-Islamic, anti-Christian viewpoint in world history textbooks.”

Yesterday, a federal court ruled that South Carolina cannot force advocacy groups to become political committees simply because they spend more than $500 “to influence the outcome of an elective office.”

Jason Mazzone writing at Balkinization: “With respect to nominations to the appellate courts, Obama has done very well. 10 Obama nominees have been confirmed to the federal circuit courts to date. At the same point in George W. Bush’s presidency (September 13, 2002), 13 of his nominees had been confirmed to the circuit courts. Going up the ladder, Obama has also placed two justices on the Supreme Court. George W. Bush secured appointments of two Supreme Court justices but not until his second term in office. I don’t know how many circuit court judges a Supreme Court justice is worth (five? ten?) but whatever the number, Obama has outpaced Bush at the appellate level overall.” Via Orin Kerr at The Volokh Conspiracy.

ADF attorney David French appeared on the Mike Gallagher Show to discuss the ongoing efforts to defend religious freedom on campuses. | MP3 audio 12:16 mins | Speak Up Movement: Universities

ADF attorney David French appeared on the Janet Meffered Show to discuss how ADF is standing up for religious liberty on campuses. | MP3 audio 18:48 mins | Speak Up Movement: Universities

Washington Post: “The number of women at every level of academia has been rising for decades. Women now hold a nearly 3-to-2 majority in undergraduate and graduate education. Doctoral study was the last holdout – the only remaining area of higher education that still had an enduring male majority.”

The Hill: “After being dogged by allegations of ethical misconduct for much of the past year, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) easily beat back his first primary challenge in nearly 20 years Tuesday.”

Andreas Follesdal, The Legitimacy of International Human Rights Review: The Case of the European Court of Human Rights (December 1, 2009). Journal of Social Philosophy, Vol. 40, No. 4, pp. 595-607, Winter 2009. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1652238

“The literature concerning judicial review reveals a long list of misgivings of such constraints on domestic democratic decision making. Of concern here are some of the principled objections against the practice of international judicial review of human rights, using the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) as a suitable case.”

International Law Reporter: “Jonathan G.S. Koppell (Arizona State Univ. – Public Affairs) has published World Rule: Accountability, Legitimacy, and the Design of Global Governance (Univ. of Chicago Press 2010). Here’s the abstract: . . . ‘Analyzing four aspects of GGO organization in depth—representation and administration, the rulemaking process, adherence and enforcement, and interest group participation—Koppell describes variation systemically, identifies patterns, and offers explanations that link GGO design to the fundamental challenge of accountability in global governance.’”

Prabhakar Singh, How Should the Third World See Constitutionalism in International Law? (July 20, 2010). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1645720

“A survey of international law scholarship throws up three kinds of approaches: constitutional, pluralistic and global administrative law (GAL). What is there for the Third World to choose? Both international law and constitutional law are colonial gifts. India in particular and Third World in general is slightly obsessed with a constitutional imagery as seen in the India-Quantitative Restriction Case at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Therefore, it depends; Chimni approaches GAL from a Third World perspective (TWAIL) whereas Koskenniemi prefers constitutionalism. Constitutional vocabularies are often used to address the United Nations (UN) Charter, the WTO, and the European Union (EU). The diversity of legal regimes presents a problem of harmonisation within the monism-dualism ideology of international law. With the increasing assertion of the EU as a strong dualist normative laboratory, new scholarship is replacing constitutionalism by pluralism as the preferred but defensive ideology – the definition of constitutionalism stands upside down now. After the European Court of Justice (ECJ)’s Kadi judgement, pluralism and constitutionalism stand in opposite camps. This paper attempts to address this international constitutional confusion. It ends on an open note: there are issues that cannot be concluded and constitutionalism as an ideology remains, as is often the case, a non-concluded question for an eternally observing Third World.”

ACLU: “Through its Leading Freedom Forward campaign, the ACLU raised $407 million over the last five years, far surpassing its original goal of $250 million. The campaign was launched in January 2005 with the goal of raising $100 million in cash gifts and $150 million in planned giving. To date, the campaign has raised over $150 million in cash gifts and over $250 million in planned giving, including a $13 million contribution from Joan and Irwin Jacobs and a $12 million contribution and an additional challenge grant from George Soros’ Foundation, the Open Society Foundation. The campaign secured some of the largest gifts ever made to the organization, some of which were the most significant gifts donors had ever made to any organization.”

Poughkeepsie Journal: “An 18-foot menorah that has adorned downtown Poughkeepsie for the past 20 holiday seasons may remain on city property when it goes up again this year, a state appellate court has affirmed. But the court also ruled the city may not spend public funds to help Rabbi Yacov Borenstein assemble the menorah or take it down.” Via How Appealing. Access opinion here.

Timothy Sandefur writing at National Review Online: “Franklin Roosevelt’s clash with the Supreme Court is one of history’s greatest legal dramas, but it has generated an unfair and misleading mythology. In this legend, the Court greeted the New Deal with a blast of reactionary decisions in 1935 and 1936 . . . to which Roosevelt retaliated by threatening to pack the Court with a new, more loyal majority of justices . . . This account further holds that the justices opposing Roosevelt — the “Four Horsemen”: George Sutherland, Willis Van Devanter, James McReynolds, and Pierce Butler — were wedded to the cruel, sink-or-swim philosophy of Social Darwinism . . . Attorney Dean Alfange came closer to the truth when he wrote in 1937 that the New Deal’s ‘one guiding principle’ was ‘wholesale and pervasive governmental interference with all branches of private business,’ which required a ‘readjustment of constitutional values.’”

The Oklahoman (RNS): “Animal rights activists, health officials and mainstream Jews all cry foul over a sacrificial rite conducted by ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities every fall, but most practitioners remain unruffled by the outcry.” Via Religion Clause.

Telegraph: “A State Council think-tank in China has warned Washington that the US will come off worst in a trade war if it imposes sanctions against Beijing over the two nations’ currency spat.”

Associated Press: “Wu Yilong was one of dozens of dissidents detained in 1998 after attempting to register the China Democracy Party in the eastern province of Zhejiang. The attempt was crushed six months later with leading organizers sentenced to up to 13 years in prison, most on the vaguely defined charge of incitement to subvert state power.”

Associated Press: “Thilo Sarrazin was a board member of Germany’s august central bank until he wrote a book claiming German society was being made ‘dumber’ by Muslim immigrants. It’s a runaway best-seller, but has cost him his job . . . his core argument resonates among many ordinary Germans, who fear that their language, culture and generosity are being abused by welfare-dependent newcomers, many of them Muslims.”

Associated Press: “Indian police opened fire Wednesday on Muslim demonstrators in a town near Kashmir, killing four people and wounding 30 as leaders of India’s main political parties debated how to end months of separatist protests in the region.”

Associated Press: “The government says nearly all U.S. teens have had formal sex education, but only about two-thirds have been taught about birth control methods.”

CNBC: “A new study obtained by CNBC says Americans are $6.6 trillion short of what they need to retire. The study, conducted by Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research, says savings have been squeezed by declines in stock and housing values.”

George Stephanopoulos writing at ABC News: “The Republican nominee for the Delaware Senate seat fired back at Karl Rove today for what she called ‘un-factual’ accusations about her record. ‘Everything that he is saying is un-factual. And it’s a shame because he is the same so-called political guru that predicted I wasn’t going to win. And we won and we won big,’ Christine O’Donnell told me this morning. ‘So I think, again, he is eating some humble pie and he is just trying to restore his reputation.’”

The Washington Examiner has excerpts from “Mad as Hell: How the Tea Party Movement is fundamentally remaking our two-party system” by Scott Rasmussen and Douglas Schoen: “The Tea Party movement has become one of the most powerful and extraordinary movements in recent American political history. It is as popular as both the Democratic and Republican parties. It is potentially strong enough to elect senators, governors and congressmen. It may even be strong enough to elect the next president of the United States — time will tell.”

CNN: “Tea Party favorites won two primary elections over more mainstream Republicans on Tuesday, demonstrating again the clout of the conservative political movement on the political right . . . The results in Delaware and New York highlighted the last major day of primary voting before the upcoming election in just under seven weeks.”

ADF Attorney David French writing at Speak Up Movement / University: In the aftermath of CLS v. Martinez, we’ve been seeing quite a bit of discussion about ‘deference’ — the idea that courts should give public universities wide room to make its own decisions. As Charlotte Allen so ably noted, a distorted concept of deference has been applied to ratify extreme forms of viewpoint discrimination and is now being used to try to insulate even speech codes from constitutional scrutiny.

Meghan Duke writing at First Things: “The three-page email was dated May 4, nearly a month earlier. The subject line was ‘Utilitarianism and Sexuality.’ Howell had sent it late that evening to help his students prepare for the essay question on the final exam in his Introduction to Catholicism class, and to clarify some points he made in his lecture the previous day on the question of homosexuality in Catholic thought . . . In an email to Howell the following Wednesday, McKim repeated his decision to relieve Howell of his teaching duties . . . The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a nonprofit legal fund dedicated to defending religious freedom, took up Howell’s case . . . The ADF . . . reminded the university that just because someone found Howell’s email offensive does not put it outside the realm of First Amendment protection; it is precisely the speech that offends that the First Amendment exists to protect.”

The Catholic Sun (Diocese of Phoenix): “The Diocese of Phoenix, the Knights of Columbus and the Phoenix Diocesan Council of Catholic Women are sponsoring the event. Big-name speakers will lay out the Catholic Church’s teaching on three major issues being hotly debated in the public square. George, who will deliver the keynote address, is the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton. [Alan Sears] — president, CEO and general counsel of the Alliance Defense Fund — and Marjorie Dannenfelser — president of the Susan B. Anthony List — will also address the crowd.” | The Manhattan Declaration

LifeNews: “Today, attorneys for Advocates International, part of the pro-life legal team with the Alliance Defense Fund and the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, filed their 147-page opposition to the government’s 165-page request for an emergency stay of the federal district court’s order preventing funding while the case continues.”

Advocates International (AI), part of the public interest legal team along with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (GD&C) who brought the case before the court more than a year ago, announced this evening that their clients have now filed in the federal court of appeals their 147-page opposition to the government’s 165-page request for an emergency stay of the federal district court’s order enjoining the government’s unlawful, unethical and unnecessary federal funding of research involving the destruction of living human embryos pending the government’s appeal of that court’s preliminary injunction order.

“[Derek Fenton, t]he protester who burned pages from the Koran outside a planned mosque near Ground Zero has been fired from NJTransit, sources and authorities said Tuesday….”

ADF Attorney David French writing at Phi Beta Cons: “Conservative students with moral fortitude and a willingness to scrap can thrive on campus . . . The attrition comes primarily from the passive conservative, the campus conservative who isn’t all that political — the one who grew up conservative and identifies as generally conservative, but the ideological side of whose life isn’t terribly important. These are the people we’re losing in droves . . . This is where I think you see the bulk of the leftward movement on issues like same-sex marriage or abortion.”

Unchartered Territory: Market Competition’s Constitutional Collision with Entrepreneurial Sex-Segregated Charter Schools
David Groshoff, 2010 B.Y.U. Educ. & L.J. 307

“Due to the recent growth in sex-segregated charters, the welcoming political landscape that currently encourages their creation, and the lack of direction by the Supreme Court, this Article explores what happens when market competition and choice–generally regarded as innocuous principles supported by many individuals across the U.S. political spectrum–are (a) applied to education, (b) combined with empirical evidence of charter success in educating urban students, and (c) mixed with policy arguments that form the basis of sex-segregated charters. By attempting to navigate the scant potentially relevant guidance from the Court, the Article analyzes how sex-segregated charters, including those expressly authorized by state legislatures, may comport with Title IX of the Patsy Takemoto Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act and the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The Article concludes that despite the ostensibly benevolent goals of the educational entrepreneurs that create charters, many sex-segregated charters violate the law.”

Adopted Speech: Summum’s Implications on Government-Sponsored, Student Speech
Landon Wade Magnusson, 2010 B.Y.U. Educ. & L.J. 407

“This Comment will illustrate how Summum’s new take on the government speech doctrine may threaten student speech by first explaining the significant role that public universities play in American society, as well as the importance of free speech within those universities. Next, this Comment will survey the different standards under which student speech is either protected or restricted in public institutions of higher learning, stressing the significance of government-sponsored, student speech. Then, it will explore the Summum decision, demonstrating its divergence from former government speech decisions. Finally, this Comment will discuss the implications of this new doctrine on student speech in the public universities, particularly how it may lead to an increase in regulation and censorship of government-sponsored student speech.”

Winning the Housing Lottery: Changing University Housing Policies for Transgender Students
Lara E. Pomerantz, 12 U. Pa. J. Const. L. 1215 (2010)

“University life for transgender students should not be marred by frustration and alienation within their living space and larger social college environment. This Comment recognizes the difficulties universities face in balancing the needs of transgender and non-transgender students and placing transgender students, particularly pre-operative students, in housing according to self-defined gender identity. Sex segregated housing should remain an option, but not the only option. This Comment suggests that universities make assignments on the basis of students’ self-defined gender identity. As an initial step, universities would change housing forms to include a non-binary gender question, which gives students the option to self-identify outside of the male and female categories. In addition, universities would not force transgender students to provide official documentation of sex reassignment surgery. This Comment will also explore the importance of gender-neutral housing as a means to ensure that transgender students benefit from academic and social life. In order to accommodate gender non-conforming individuals and recognize students’ true gender identity, students who choose this option would be assigned housing regardless of gender.”