Unisex Restrooms Becoming More Widespread on Campus

Last winter, an assignment in Beth Schneider's Sociology 159 class on "Sociology of Lesbian and Gay Communities" inspired undergraduate Lauryl Tognazzini and her research group to launch a ripple of change that is now felt across campus. Working with the administration, the students have succeeded in converting most single-stall restrooms from male or female labels to one encompassing both sexes.

"We had to think of an issue to research that dealt with the campus queer community," explained Tognazzini, "and I knew of one." The issue was the potential harassment that, as she termed it, "gender nonconforming students, staff, and faculty" could encounter in traditionally labeled single-stall restrooms. "It happens," said Tognazzini, who is a junior and works for the Women's Center part-time.

While four "unisex" restrooms could be found, another 40 single-use facilities separately labeled for men or women were identified as a result of inquiries by Tognazzini's group. This prompted a letter last March to David Sheldon, vice chancellor, administrative services, requesting the relabeling as "an immediate need."

Sheldon checked out the facts and concurred. He also saw the relabeling as a way to gain more efficient use of the single-toilet facilities and protect peoples' privacy. In asking cooperation from the department managers affected, he pointed that that this was not a move to co-ed restrooms. "It is an opportunity, at no cost to your department, to provide a needed benefit to our community," he wrote.

Working with superintendent Bob Wright in Facilities Management, Linda Raney, Sheldon's special projects coordinator, listed 32 rooms with locking entry doors that could convert to unisex status. They ranged from parking services' buildings to the Preston Cloud Laboratory, and from Student Health Services headquarters to six restrooms in HSSB and two in Cheadle Hall.

The relabeling is expected to be completed by this week, Wright estimated.