Officials at the University of Georgia have designated a pair of "gender neutral" restrooms on campus, a change instituted for transgender students but which they say will benefit others. The single-stall restrooms are near the university's gay student support center, where leaders hope the trend will expand to other parts of campus.
Michael Shutt, an assistant dean of students and director of the university's year-old Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Resource Center, told the Associated Press that the move came out of safety and comfort concerns for transgender students.
"Most of us very much take for granted that we can find a restroom and we don't have to worry about anybody harassing us," said Shutt said to the AP. "But there is always the chance that people can be harassed in restrooms if they don't look like they fit the norm and there can sometimes be assault or abuse in those cases."
According to the AP, other universities creating gender-neutral restrooms include the University of Arizona, which adopted a "Statement on Restroom Access" in June, and Harvard University, where a similar policy was approved in 2004. Dozens of other schools have adopted restroom-access policies or are considering them.
While not an official policy, the UA statement, when read to a meeting of its Faculty Senate, was presented as another step in keeping with the university's policy of non-discrimination, reports the Arizona Daily Star.
The action moves the UA to the front of the line as the first Pac-10 school to have such a statement, said Jeanne Kleespie, assistant vice president for equal opportunity and affirmative action. And while it hasn't been decided, the gender-neutral bathrooms probably won't be labeled transgender.
The issue is just privacy and not having to worry, said Jessica Pettitt, coordinator of the UA's Social Justice Programs, who told the Daily Star "some people in the community call me 'Dr. Bathroom.'"
The initiative comes as the campus is a few years into its largest building boom in recent history, with at least four major buildings opening in the last year.
UA spokesman Johnny Cruz told the Daily Star there is no estimate yet on what the effort will cost. With roughly 300 buildings on the campus and thousands of bathrooms, it could take months to develop a plan.
