RESPONSES TO NORMATIVE DISRUPTION OF THE GENDER BINARY THROUGH THE CREATION OF GENDER INCLUSIVE HOUSING by Maria Alana Anderson-Long Dissertation Committee: Professor Noah D. Drezner Professor Katharine Griffin Conway Approved by the Committee on the Degree of Doctor of Education Date 13 February 2019 . Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education in Teachers College, Columbia University 2019 ABSTRACT RESPONSES TO NORMATIVE DISRUPTION OF THE GENDER BINARY THROUGH THE CREATION OF GENDER INCLUSIVE HOUSING Maria Alana Anderson-Long This study, a multisite qualitative case study, examines the responses of three institutions of higher education to normative disruption of the gender binary. Normative disruption, or the challenging of the social status quo, occurs when power structures in society are pushed back against. Central to this study is the use of open systems theory, which positions higher education as a subsystem of American society, and therefore responsive to changes in the environment external of the institution. This study investigates how, if at all, these case sites employed Gender Inclusive Housing (GIH) policies as an institutional response to changes in how gender was conceptualized on their campus. Specifically, this study addresses: 1. how changes in societal norms around the gender binary influence colleges and universities, 2. in what ways institutions respond to such changes, 3. what ways institutions reestablish organizational homeostasis around an expanded concept of gender, and 4. how institutional characteristics influence decision-making responses. Out of the findings of this study emerged the Model of Normative Disruption, a mechanism that can be utilized to understand institutional decision-making responses to normative disruption. The findings of this study suggest: 1. various societal and institutional factors influence the ways in which normative disruption manifests at a college or university, 2. institutional characteristics and culture impact all responses to normative disruption, and can either support or hinder change, 3. GIH is one mechanism of responding to normative disruption, but, depending on institutional characteristics, may not be sufficient enough change to reestablish organizational homeostasis, and 4. if the institutional culture is not an amenable environment to such changes, organizational homeostasis is difficult to reestablish. This study concludes with implications for theory, research, and practice. Importantly, I suggest that GIH policies might serve as an opportunity for administrators to begin the necessary conversations of understanding the myriad cisgenderist policies, practices, and culture that exist within systems of higher education. © Copyright Maria Alana Anderson-Long 2019 All Rights Reserved ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I have to thank Noah Drezner, my advisor, mentor, and source of guidance throughout my time at TC. I have learned so much about being a researcher, a scholar, and a teacher from you. Thank you for standing behind my study and for all of the opportunities you have provided me with which have shaped the scholar and practitioner I am today. Katie Conway, thank you for being a source of enthusiasm and insight for my study. The framing of my study benefitted so much from your perspective. Anna Neumann, thank you for all that you have taught me in the last four years of coursework and for your guidance and support throughout my journey here. I have become a better writer and a better researcher because of your mentorship. I am thankful to my participants, particularly the trans* students who met with me to discuss their lived college experiences. Your voices gave life to this study. To my wife, Chelsea. Thank you for your unwavering support over the last four and a half years. I am so grateful for the sacrifices you have made in order for us to move to New York and for me to finish my degree. Thank you for believing in me, for serving as a sounding board, and for creating a supportive home and family for me. Mom, there is no way I can adequately thank you for the lifetime of love and support you have provided me. From our Tuesday phone calls to proofreading draft after draft, you’ve been on this journey the entire way through. You and dad have given me so many opportunities, and your commitment to my education is one of the greatest gifts you’ve given me. iii Dad, thank you for the innumerable sacrifices you made for me to get to this point, including your own dissertation. This one’s for you. To my sibling, and best friend, Dylan. I’m so grateful for your constant support. Thanks for always being willing to talk gender with me and for including me in your journey. Cindy and Frank, my second set of parents. Thank you for being a place of refuge and a home away from home my entire life. You have always been there, even though we’ve never lived close to one another, and I couldn’t have made it here without you. Ms. Manto, thank you for believing in me beginning in 8th grade and continuing to be a source of support nearly two decades later. Your guidance taught me the power of educational role models and I would not be the educator I am today without you. Gino, thank you for making me the writer I am today. The lessons you taught me way back in Modern Drama and playwriting classes have stayed with me all these years later – “you don’t cut bad writing, you cut good writing.” To my research groupmates, Liz, Jessie, and Jerée, thank you so much for your questions and conversations, from Cert I until now. I am a better scholar because of your feedback and willingness to dive into my research. Jerée, thank you for being the Team Drezner member that I could always lean on for insight and support, from email drafts to dissertation drafts. I promise I’ll return the favor even after graduation. M.A.A.L. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter I - INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 1 Problem Statement ......................................................................................................... 4 Purpose Statement .......................................................................................................... 5 Definitions of Key Concepts ............................................................................................ 6 Normative Disruption .................................................................................................. 7 Sex Assigned at Birth ................................................................................................... 7 Gender/Gender Identity .............................................................................................. 8 Gender Binary .............................................................................................................. 8 Cisgender, Cisgenderism/Trans Oppression ................................................................ 9 Transgender and Trans* .............................................................................................. 9 Pronouns in Use ......................................................................................................... 11 Operationalizing Gender-Inclusive Housing .............................................................. 11 Gender-inclusive. ................................................................................................... 11 Gender-inclusive housing....................................................................................... 12 Normative Disruption of the Gender Binary ............................................................. 16 Examples of Normative Disruption within Higher Education.................................... 20 Open Systems Theory ................................................................................................ 21 Research Questions ................................................................................................... 24 Overview of Study ......................................................................................................... 25 Rationale and Significance of Study .............................................................................. 27 Chapter II - OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE ............................................................................ 30 Normative Disruption within American Society............................................................ 31 Higher Education Responses to Normative Disruption ................................................ 32 Gender Equity in Education ....................................................................................... 33 Establishment of LGBT Centers on College Campuses .............................................. 34 Normative Disruption of the Gender Binary within Higher Education ......................... 35 Institutional Support for Trans* Students..................................................................... 37 Counseling and Mental Health Services .................................................................... 38 Registrar and Name Change Policies ......................................................................... 40 Name changes. ....................................................................................................... 41 Gender marker changes. ........................................................................................ 41 v Bathroom and Locker Access....................................................................................