Kaeden Kass, was born a female but identifies himself as male. The transgender student attends Miami University and has filed a complaint against his school after not being allowed to serve as a residential assistant in an all-male dorm.
After filing the complaint with the Miami University council and dean of students Kass was offered the same position for a female suite.
Kass remains unsatisfied with their offer and explained, “The problem is, I’m a male-identified person. As soon as I’m in a space that is all female, my identity gets erased.”
The personal needs of this student have left the university in a tight spot and has created an uproar on both sides of the issue.
University spokeswoman Claire Wagner said that the school “takes any complaints of discrimination seriously.”
“We offer on-campus housing specifically for transgender students,” she told CBS Cleveland. “We have been doing it on a case-by-case basis.”
But Kass said he can’t go against his male identity,”Although it doesn’t match with what I’ve been told based on my birth certificate … it’s my identity. It’s what I feel and I can’t fight it.”
This is another battle about whether we should put the needs/desires of the few before the needs/desires of the many.
How would you feel if you were asked to dorm with someone of the opposite sex?
Do you think that Miami University has done an adequate job of accommodating trans-gender students by offering transgender dorms?
In the following YouTube Kass stars in Trans Global Fusion and says that Miami University has a reputation for being “very white-bred and conservative” and that Oxford, OH, where the college is located, is “rich and privileged.” She went on to say that she doesn’t want to deter transgender individuals from attending and says she loves her professors.
The problem that he noticed with “queerness” within the university is that it is “a place where queerness and any type of diversity is swept under the rug”…”They really don’t embrace you at Miami for being different”…”They like conformity and tradition.” He said that this leaves him feeling invisible.