More gender-inclusive restrooms created

More+gender-inclusive+restrooms+created

Carly Frederickson, Staff Writer

All single-occupancy public restrooms on Central Campus are now gender inclusive, according to an update on gender inclusive restrooms issued by LGBTQA Center Director Kate Jerman.

Genderinclusive restrooms were first implemented on campus in 2016 after students organized a sit-in in the office of the dean of libraries during finals week of the spring semester, said senior Z McCarron, a member of the Gender Inclusive Restroom Task Force.

“Because of the work of the task force, and the conversations that began around the new residence hall, all other new construction will start to have similar design choices,” Jerman said.

GIRT was formed at the request of President Tom Sullivan and Wanda Heading Grant, vice president for human resources, diversity and multicultural affairs in May 2016.

In January 2017, GIRT began to receive funding from the University.

“We have some authority and power now to actually change bathrooms on campus,” McCarron said.

As existing multi-stall restrooms are converted to gender inclusive restrooms, they’ll get privacy upgrades including closing gaps between stall walls and doors, Jerman said.

“[The renovations] depend on the status of the bathrooms. In newer bathrooms, the stalls already have those privacy upgrades,” she said.

“We’ve tried to establish a standard, so that we can hand [it] to any architect that’s working for us on any project from this point forward,” said Robert Vaughan, director of capital planning and management.

A map of buildings on campus that have gender-inclusive restrooms is currently available on the LGBTQA Center’s website, and a new version of it is in production, Jerman said.

McCarron said that more students need to be involved in GIRT, “especially queer and trans students and students with disabilities — they would be amazing to have on the task force.”

Those interested in being involved should reach out to McCarron at [email protected], they said.