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In a campus-wide email, President Ruth Simmons announced the forestallment of certain building projects in light of endowment difficulties brought on by the recent economic crisis. Many spheres of Brown life will doubtless face difficulties, but those involved with the construction of gender identity could face lengthy delays.
"What some students might face, without the appropriate funding for such construction, is something I would call gender limbo," explained Professor Andrew Ogenous. While in the past such crises have plagued the likes of David Bowie, Sinead O'Connor, and the Trix Rabbit, college students have never before been faced with this situation.
Sarah Tapinski '11 asked, "what I am going to do about my sex life? Without a socially constructed gender I'm at, like, a loss as to whether I'm homo-, hetero-, bi-, or tri-. But I'm pretty confident I'm not tetra-." Other students have rallied around her in solidarity after President Simmons made no acknowledgment of the delays concerning gender construction in her email.
"I consider it shameful that something like this could happen at Brown. I mean, O'Reilly destroyed the safe space that was SexPowerGod, and it's scary how now the administration itself might erase any progress we've made," said Heather Ross '09.
Affected students have found some comfort in the presence of the gender-neutral bathroom in Faunce House. "It's nice to know that there is at least a place to do my private business and not be judged, but like I still hope they fix this quickly," remarked Jonathan Casper '10.
Some student groups and alumni have begun fundraising efforts to save students at risk of becoming genderless. Jeffrey Eugenides '83, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "Middlesex," has even established a special fund to allow income from his book will go directly towards gender construction. "Without a gender to seek comfort and identity in, the world is a harsh place. It's not easy to sleep at night when there's no place to hang your hat," he explained in an email.
The Brown chapter of Habitat for Humanity has had "little experience in this kind of construction, but we really hate not responding to requests," reports Brown Executive Director Chad MacArthur '10. "You know, it isn't like a Facebook friend request. This stuff is real life."
In an unlikely collaboration, members from the Engineering department are slated to team up with the Gender and Sexuality Studies department to remedy the situation in a project entitled EnGender. The details of the project were not released as of press time, but one source close to the project, who wished to remain anonymous, revealed that "a label-maker and a Magic 8-ball" will be involved.
It is hoped that creative budgeting measures will prevent any further cessation of gender construction on campus. In the meantime, students like Tapinski are "just trying to find new ways to explore ourselves and employ our own methods of construction."
