September 10, 2007 - 12:00am
By Jasmine Marcus
Cornell University has been making an effort in recent years to foster diversity and tolerance, promoting concepts like gender-neutrality to ensure the comfort and safety of students who Gwendolyn Dean, coordinator of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered or Questioning Resource Center called “gender non-conforming.”
One event at Cornell featuring a gender-neutral environment occured last fall in the form of Hillel-sponsored speed dating. Ga’avah, Cornell’s LGBTQ Jewish group, held speed-dating for members of the LGTBQ community upstairs in Trillium. Graduate students also had a speed-dating event on the second floor, so that, according to Nomi Fridman, Ga’avah’s faculty advisor, no one going upstairs would stand out.