Over a month after the last meeting of the group tasked with considering the future of gender-neutral bathrooms at Brown, campus life officials say some single-use bathrooms are already designated as gender-neutral and that they will begin creating a map of all bathrooms on campus this week. Student proponents of the change, however, have expressed skepticism as to whether sufficient progress is being made.
"We are looking at whether we have enough gender neutral bathrooms available in all locations and for all students," wrote Margaret Klawunn, associate vice president of campus life and dean for student life, in an e-mail to The Herald. "Since some students live in areas where single-use lockable bathrooms are not available, we are considering whether we might make some group use bathrooms gender neutral, but it will depend on community response to this idea whether we would go ahead."
Klawunn added that the Office of Residential Life has "already made single-use lockable bathrooms gender neutral in many locations."
Administrators initially announced they would look at making some bathrooms gender-neutral at a Sept. 29 meeting of the Gender Neutral Housing Committee, according to an Oct. 3 Herald article. According to Klawunn, the committee is a private working group that has been in existence for the past few years to "evaluate and review how well our housing and facilities are addressing the needs of a population with a diversity of gender expression."
Committee members include Klawunn, Senior Associate Dean of Residential Life Richard Bova, Sarah Doyle Women's Center Director Gail Cohee, Associate Provost and Director of Institutional Diversity Brenda Allen, LGBTQ Resource Center Coordinator Kelly Garrett, Residential Council Chair Justin Glavis-Bloom '07 and three other student representatives.
Though Bova said the group will meet again before Thanksgiving break, some student committee members said administrators had promised to meet more frequently and are displeased with the lack of progress on the issue.
"We said (we) would meet every three weeks, but that date has passed twice now," said committee member Robin Peckham '10.
"People have been assigned to tasks, but the issue is not really a priority (for the University)," said Josh Teitelbaum '08, a committee member and the coordinator of RUQUS - a subgroup of Queer Alliance that advocates for gender-neutral bathrooms, among other issues. "If I had been asked about the progress after the meeting I would have said 'yes' or 'maybe' I'm optimistic, but there has been no work besides the student work since then so we have a little ways to go."
According to QA's Web site, RUQUS is "a discussion/action group of radical queers dedicated to anti-racist, anti-classist, anti-war, pro-feminist, pro-environmental justice, pro-trans, pro-queer organizing and politics."
Bova said three working groups were created as a result of the Sept. 29 meeting. The first group is tasked with mapping bathrooms on campus that currently are or could become gender-neutral. The second is responsible for working with Facilities Management to examine current bathroom configurations in academic and administrative buildings to find opportunities for creating more gender-neutral bathrooms.
The third group is working on proposals for having roommate pairs not "necessarily of the same gender or gender expression," Bova said. All of these initiatives would need to "be vetted on campus before any changes," he added.
Garrett wrote in an e-mail to The Herald that she is working on "creating a tool that can be used to map out the bathrooms on campus." Once that is done, she hopes to begin the mapping process within the next two weeks. She added that she is currently looking for volunteers to help with the mapping process.
Garrett wrote, "The mapping will give us a picture of what currently exists so we can assess what changes, if any, need to be made. It will also serve as a tool that can be publicized and used to let students know where they can access a gender neutral bathroom on campus."
Peckham was optimistic about the progress of mapping out bathrooms that potentially could become, or already are, gender-neutral bathrooms.
Bova and Klawunn said the goal of mapping is to provide prospective students and interested parties with information about where gender-neutral bathrooms can be found on campus. Teitelbaum said having a map would help students make decisions about where they want to live before the housing lottery.
Mapping is definitely an important step, Peckham said, but it has taken a lot of effort to set in motion. He added that he hopes the mapping initiative will be completed by the end of this semester.
Administrators said they expect the gender-neutral bathroom issue to be resolved soon.
"The goal is to come to a (resolution) one way or another by this spring," Klawunn said. Bova added that the resolution would be implemented by next fall.
Peckham and Teitelbaum, however, expressed doubts about the feasibility of this timeline. Peckham said changing multiple-use bathrooms to single-use will require construction, which would probably take longer.
Though the issue of gender-neutral bathrooms has been discussed since at least 2004, according to Teitelbaum, it was first brought to students' attention this semester when members of RUQUS held a demonstration outside the Sharpe Refectory on Sept. 26.
RUQUS members dressed in drag designated different entrances to the Ratty as "male" or "female" and forced students to choose which one to enter. According to an Oct. 3 Herald article, Peckham said the purpose of the demonstration was to raise awareness of the issue.
Despite RUQUS's efforts, students interviewed by The Herald said they do not view gender-neutral bathrooms as an important issue on campus. "I don't think it's really a big deal, people don't really follow the rules (of gender-specific bathrooms) anyway," said Alicia Coneys '09.
"I wouldn't really care either way. It doesn't bother me; as long as there is a bathroom I can use, I'm all set," said Darren Howerton '09.
