Two Boston University students have recently created a petition to change the bathrooms in the Community Service Center at the George Sherman Union to be non-gendered bathrooms.
The online petition garnered 368 signatures as of Tuesday evening from prospective and current students, alumni, staff, faculty and community partners, wrote Rebecca Reynolds, one of the students who started the organizers.
Reynolds, a senior in the Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, is collaborating with Aaryn Clerk, a senior in the School of Education, to gather support from the BU community for this initiative.
The petition is intended to make the CSC a place where everyone can feel welcome, Reynolds wrote in a message.
“This is an important initiative because having non-gendered bathrooms on all parts of campus makes people feel safer, included and benefits all people, especially trans folks, parents with children and people with disabilities,” Reynolds wrote.
The CSC’s location was a deliberate choice, Reynolds wrote.
“Because the CSC is an intentional community and our bathrooms are not highly trafficked, plus there are plenty of other gendered bathrooms in the [George Sherman Union], this solution is ideal for our space specifically,” wrote Reynolds, who also works as a program manager at the CSC. “This is a student-led and student-supported proposal that works within our space.”
Reynolds put the idea for the petition forward about three weeks ago, CSC Program Manager Charlotte Gleeson said.
“She put up temporary gender neutral bathroom signs, or all-gender bathroom signs” Gleeson said. “That started a conversation in this space about whether or not that can become a permanent fixture because there aren’t any all-gender bathrooms in the GSU building at all.”
Most of the program managers at CSC got on board with the petition as well, ensuring Reynolds had the support of the CSC community at large. Since then, it has amassed support from outside the CSC, Gleeson said.
“I think people feel positively toward [the petition],” she said. “We want everyone to feel comfortable when using the bathrooms here.”
Gleeson, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said she personally hopes the petition will go through, although she is not yet sure how the situation will play out.
Right now, the CSC, which is on the fourth floor of the GSU, has multi-stall gendered bathrooms.
Reynolds said they hope to add a lockable outer door to the bathrooms already in CSC, which would allow the bathrooms to be single-stall. Users would be able to lock the outer door and be alone in the bathroom if they desire.
The construction currently underway at the GSU may work in the initiative’s favor, said Katherine Cornetta, assistant to the dean of students.
“Any ideas like this that students want to bring to us, we can always consider,” Cornetta said. “If any students have any ideas about what they’d like to see in buildings, what would make them feel more welcome on campus, they can always contact us directly.”
Cornetta confirmed the petition has been brought to the deans’ attention, but it has not been approved by the Dean of Students office. No action has been taken yet to make the petition’s requested changes as of yet.
Several BU faculty and students said they support the idea of making bathrooms on campus more inclusive and comfortable for all people.
Social sciences professor Susan Lee, who specializes in gender studies, said she supported the idea of having gender-neutral bathrooms at BU.
“It sends a message that the BU community is aware that we have trans members of our university and that traditional male or female bathrooms may not be comfortable for them,” Lee said.
She said since many college students are exploring their “adult identity,” making structural provisions for them is a good idea.
“From a sociological perspective, gender is socially constructed, though most people feel comfortable with their assigned gender,” Lee said. “For those who don’t, however, it makes a big difference to have some flexibility on campus.”
Some students raised question about the necessity of addressing this issue by changing the bathroom layout.
Valeria Salazar, a sophomore in CAS, said instead of petitioning for non-gendered bathrooms, students should focus their efforts on creating a friendly environment that encourages gender-neutral students to use gendered bathrooms based on how they identify themselves.
“Honestly, I think it is kind of unnecessary to make existing restrooms gender-neutral,” Salazar said.
On the other hand, Ivy Zhang, a freshman in the College of Communication, said she recognized the importance of the statement BU would make if it decided to install gender-neutral bathrooms.
“This is the university’s way to demonstrate its solidarity and support for transgender students,” Zhang said. “Importance varies and I believe, for students who recognize themselves as transgender, this is a really important issue.”
Marco Alesci, an exchange student from Italy who is currently studying in CAS, also said students will potentially benefit from the changes.
“If some students don’t recognize themselves having a particular sexual identity, imagine every time they go to the GSU and realize that they have to choose between ‘male’ and ‘female,’” Alesci said. “It must be a frustrating feeling.”
“Fear is the intended result of codifying homophobia into law.” I’m genuinely glad to see BU students are channeling their voices through this petition. The discrepancies among people should not only be respected, but also be championed and revered.