SAINT PAUL, Minnesota — The University of St. Thomas in Minnesota has in the past allowed gender-confused men to live in women’s residence halls, according to comments made by the school’s residence life director.
Director of Residence Zoe Chang can be seen on a video released by James O’Keefe’s new media group discussing a hypothetical situation with undercover journalists who asked about a “trans sister” living on campus.
Chang told the journalists the gender-confused male would get a discount on a double room as an “accommodation.”
“So you’ve had transgender students come here before,” a journalist asks in another part of the video. It is not clear if this comment came chronologically before or after Chang’s comments show at the beginning of the clip.
1st OMG Citizen Journalist-Led Story:
A Citizen Journalist was rewarded $1000 for this recording obtained about a Catholic University allowing “trans girl” to room in the girl’s dorm without their knowledge. pic.twitter.com/eFmsTZnm1W
— O’Keefe Media Group (@OKeefeMedia) May 10, 2023
Chang said she does not tell the students about transgender students living in the dorms. She said there would be a problem from “parents” who are Catholic and conservative. “Why are you letting that happen?” Chang hypothesized parents would say.
A separate university staffer said in a different phone call that a male student’s transgenderism would be kept secret from others.
Chang said in another part of the video that a gender-confused male could live with a female without that girl knowing that her roommate was “transgender.”
The journalist tells Chang it is good the university is being “inclusive.” The residence life director, while smiling, said the university is trying to move in “that direction” without being too outward about it.
LifeSiteNews contacted the residence life office and Associate Vice President of Public Relations Andy Ybarra on Monday morning and asked for comment on the video, how the university ensures all its policies and programming conforms to the Catholic Church’s teachings on gender and sexuality and if there was anything specifically that was misleading or false in the clip. Neither responded to the request for comment.
LifeSiteNews also contacted the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis to ask if it could comment on the situation and if it planned to discuss the problems of “transgender” individuals living in dorm rooms incongruent with their sex at the university. Director of Communications Tom Halden did not respond to the Monday morning email.
The university largely confirmed the substance of the video.
