Let me preface this by saying how much I love Ohio Wesleyan University. The academic experience and community I’ve found here is amazing, and I have made personal connections that will last me a lifetime. I think OWU is a great place to be a student because the classes are one-of-a-kind and I strongly support a liberal arts education. Plus, the campus community is involved in the larger Delaware community in a way that few college students manage to be over the course of their four-year education. Heck, even the food here is good, especially after the last update to Smith Dining Hall.

I’m not writing this article because I want to brag about how great my school is. I’m writing it because I love my school, and there’s something going on here that needs to be fixed in order to make the school I love even better.

It is disappointing to me that housing at OWU in all dorms falls short of full inclusivity. At any given university, there will always be a percentage of students who are disabled, transgender, financially disadvantaged or some combination of all three. At OWU, a residential campus (which means that all students must live on campus), adequate housing for these people at an affordable price has not been provided. The only Tier 1 housing (least expensive option) available is in:

1. SLU communities—to which an individual must apply with the house and be accepted into the house in order to live there (with the risk of being waitlisted or denied)

2. Thomson/Bashford Halls, which have no elevator access except for the service elevator that students are not allowed to use, and are not handicapped accessible. They are segregated by sex per floor with communal bathrooms.

In addition, after freshman year, Tier 1 options are reduced even more since Bashford Hall is freshmen-only. Since Bashford and Thomson Halls are segregated by sex with communal bathrooms, there is no place for transgender students there. And that's not only inconvenient: for some, it's impossible. Transgender and disabled people are statistically more likely to be lower-income and therefore unable to afford higher-tier residences.

This is the cost of living on the OWU campus from the Housing Contract.

The TL;DR of my experience is that I asked for affordable and accessible housing, being specific about my needs financially and physically, was courteous and willing to meet/work with anyone in any office, provided proof and documentation, and still waited months for any accommodations. I experienced four months of "You don't have the money for this accommodation," and "We can't give you that accommodation," and that kind of uncertainty isn't something I'd wish on anyone.

As of now, I’ve been assigned a room on the third floor of Thomson Hall, which is only accessible to me because I'll be issued a key to the service elevator. I shouldn't have had to wait four months for this resolution. Thomson in the first place is not handicapped accessible because of a number of stairs to navigate, and if I were to need mobility aids (such as a cane, crutches, or a wheelchair), I would not be able to access my room anymore. However, it's the only Tier 1 housing available to upperclassmen (aside from SLU communities). That, above all else, presents a problematic image about the concern that Residential Life has for disabled students.

This is Thomson Hall, where I've been placed next year, on the inaccessible third floor with freight elevator accommodations.

I’m disappointed because I feel like the issues of trans and disabled students are being underestimated at best and openly ignored at worst. For me, it feels like I'm being told, “We don’t care about your health and well-being; we're just trying to placate you.” And I know that isn’t true. There are a number of people that I reached out to that genuinely wanted to help me, including the former Dean of Students Mr. Kurt Holmes, my RAs, my academic advisor, and my friends and family. However, I feel like I've been swept under the rug by ResLife administration, and the only reason I've been given any accommodations at all is because I was loud, persistent, and I refused to accept inaccessible housing. I shouldn't have to fight for my right to housing. Accessible housing at an affordable price should be available to every student, and this should be doubly true on residential-requirement campuses.

I’m especially frustrated because of the times I’ve tried to reach out to Residential Life and was left hanging before I finally was persistent enough to even be acknowledged. ResLife says "Ohio Wesleyan is committed to making accommodations in our residences for medical or psychological conditions" on their website, but it seems from what I've gone through that this isn't true for students who can't afford the steep price of accommodations.

If I know anything about living on a residential campus, it’s this: All students deserve housing that is both affordable to them and accessible to them.

For a while, I genuinely thought I would have to choose between the two. Is this discrimination? Maybe. It doesn't matter to me what you call it, because it was four months of reaching out, being ignored, feeling discouraged, and finally having a solution given to me at the last minute. Has Residential Life failed me, and likely other disabled or transgender students who are also financially disadvantaged? Definitely.

I’d like to see housing provided at a Tier 1 level for all students, including disabled and transgender students. As of now, the only housing open to transgender students is upper-tier (read: more expensive by almost $1000) gender-inclusive housing and SLUs as well as medical singles. This is because Thomson Hall (the most affordable dorm) is segregated on floors by sex because of communal bathrooms, and SLUs are self-selecting communities. I understand that, and am not pushing to change this, only to make alternative Tier 1 housing guaranteed available to all students—whether transgender or cisgender, disabled or able-bodied—who are attending OWU. Perhaps Thomson Hall could have its own gender-inclusive floor, where assignment would be by choice, or the price of a room could be on a sliding scale based on income and need. These are just starting points—I believe that people dedicated to affordable and accessible housing could come up with better solutions than I ever could.

I’m sure my experience isn’t an isolated one, and I invite other students who have experienced issues with Residential Life and housing at Ohio Wesleyan University to come forward. As a campus community, we need to address and fix this problem together with the appropriate authorities in order to make OWU a better place for everybody. After all, doesn't everyone deserve housing they can actually live in?