Some residence hall bathrooms, including multiple-user bathrooms, may become gender-neutral, University officials announced Friday in a meeting with students who have advocated for a higher number of gender-neutral bathrooms on campus.
The University is most likely to place gender-neutral bathrooms in buildings that have bathrooms on multiple floors, said Margaret Klawunn, associate vice president of campus life and dean of student life.
"If you are a student who was not comfortable with the gender binary you could select a gender-neutral bathroom," Klawunn said.
More single-user bathrooms in public buildings may also become gender-neutral. The changes would involve replacing signs on some existing bathrooms as well as construction and renovation.
The changes come following increased student advocacy for placing gender-neutral bathrooms in on-campus buildings. On Sept. 26, several members of RUQUS, a subgroup of Queer Alliance, demonstrated outside of the Sharpe Refectory. The students created two entrances into the building - one designated for men and another for women - and placed signs indicating different entrances for men and women on other University buildings. 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."
The objective of last Tuesday's demonstration was in part to raise on-campus awareness regarding the issue of gender-neutral bathrooms, according to Robin Peckham '10, one of the demonstration's organizers. Peckham said students in RUQUS want the University to make one out of every three bathrooms gender-neutral.
Members of the group believe potential changes should affect single-user bathrooms as well as multiple-user bathrooms, including bathrooms in residence halls, Peckham said.
Most residence halls also do not have gender-neutral bathrooms, according to RUQUS members. The only officially recognized gender-neutral public bathrooms are in Keeney Quadrangle, according to Klawunn. Private bathrooms in several other residence halls and bathrooms in co-ed suites are also gender-neutral.
Peckham said increasing the number of gender-neutral bathrooms would make some students more comfortable and decrease sexual harassment in bathrooms.
"I believe that when we separate bathrooms by gender it tends to sexualize the act of going to the bathroom," he said.
Sarah Bowman '05, who was involved in this issue during her time at Brown, expressed a similar view.
"Not everyone could self-identify or feel comfortable in bathrooms that are segregated only by gender identity," Bowman said.
In 2003-2004, the University created more gender-neutral housing - offering co-ed suites and giving incoming first-years the option of requesting gender-neutral housing - but the bathroom issue was largely unaddressed, Bowman said.
"Not a lot of changes have been made," she said.
Though gender-neutral bathrooms exist in newer University buildings, many older buildings do not have these types of bathrooms, said Gail Cohee, director of the Sarah Doyle Women's Center. Faunce House, for example, does not have any gender-neutral bathrooms, she said.
Bowman said students often don't know where to find gender-neutral bathrooms. One of the changes University officials are considering is creating a map that would indicate to students where gender-neutral bathrooms can be found. Bowman said such a map would be helpful to many students.
"No one knows where they are unless you have been around for a while," she said.
