By JOURNALISM I
Of the many co-ed houses on campus, 968 Madison Ave., had a house meeting on Oct. 30 regarding their co-educational facilities, and people’s concerns regarding the non-separation of their restrooms.
In the first floor meeting of the year, Sonia Morreira, Resident Assistant for 968 Madison, mentioned to the residents that the bathrooms in the building were gender neutral. If residents were to tour the house prior to selecting the house and moving in, the fact that the house has gender neutral bathrooms would be common knowledge to them.
“Since I had the floor meeting addressing these concerns, I have not received anything. All I know is that anonymous students went to Res Life and told them that they were uncomfortable using the bathrooms. So my supervision said to make gendering the bathrooms an option,” said Morreira.
An option that was given to the residents after the meeting was to have separate sex bathrooms, however the discussion on that is put to the side as nobody reached out to Morreira that they wanted the single sex bathrooms to happen.
“I do think all students benefit from a co-ed restroom. It helps to teach people how to coexist with one another. It helps bring us all together. It is also an amazing thing to have for all of our non-binary folks out there,” said Morriera.
Unlike most upperclassmen housing, freshmen dormitories such as Brubacher and Lima Hall, have rooms separated by male and female and they do not have co-ed bathrooms. While there are advantages in experimenting with co-ed freshmen housing like in Riley/Carondelet/Cavanaugh, it could also be a bit risky.
“I think for residents who identify differently from the gender that is on our rosters it can be extremely beneficial because it allows them to have a safe place, which is why it is worth experimenting. However there are some residents who are freshman that are still breaking out of their comfort zones,” said Jaysalee Salcedo, Resident Assistant of Lima 4.
According to Director of Residence Life, Jen Richardson, co-ed buildings with single-sex rooms have existed on-campus for over 12 years. This has been expanded over time based on student interest with decision making by the administration.
The discussion over gender neutral bathrooms has come and gone in the national news cycle for the past few years. Six states including Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia, have considered legislation that would preempt municipal and county-level anti-discrimination laws. North Carolina is the only state to pass this type of legislation as of the 2017 legislative session. Some think that it might be time for this discussion to occur at The College of Saint Rose.
Students within the campus of Saint Rose have more than a few words to share speaking on the topic of gender neutral bathrooms.
Gabrielle Wissman, a freshman, said, “I believe people should have the right to use the bathroom in whichever they’re most comfortable using. But, some people will not respect those people and may harm or bully them into fitting into the ‘norm’.”
A few words were also shared by another freshman student Ode Odendahl, who said, “There is no reason why any percentage of students should not be accommodated, especially considering that this involves one of the most important aspects of their lives.”
This is just the beginning of a sparked conversation that can lead students fighting for justice on campus.
Two days after President Trump said that he was considering rolling back Obama-era protections for the transgender community, a professionally designed “all gender” restroom sticker appeared over the sign for the women’s restroom in Hearst. It has been taken down as of Sunday Nov 4.
Signs on bathrooms around campus vary. Some are traditional single sex use, while others are gender neutral. Some on campus dorms have gender neutral restrooms, but the Events and Athletics Center has separate facilities for men and women. All academic buildings have separate restrooms based on sex. Should there be a separation at all?
“What the Trump administration is attempting to do on the one hand is part of a larger project to fan the flames of xenophobia, anti-semitism, racism, misogyny and transphobia,” said Dr. Angela Ledford, professor of gender studies and political theory at the college.
“You see it happening as if they are ticking off the boxes – it is not by coincidence that it is happening this close to midterm elections. This is from a particular political playbook to fan the flames of hate and fear and to indeed manufacture crises that they then claim they have the solution to. It feeds their electoral coffers.”
While the issue seems to be heating up nationally, the inconsistency of gender neutral bathrooms around campus is something that has not received very much attention from students or administration.
“I heard very vaguely from Hunter [Hitchcock] last year, who was the treasurer of Identity, he mentioned once that they were trying to get the Lally bathrooms being gender neutral, but other than that I heard nothing,” said Shannon Crotty, president of Identity, the club for LGBT students and allies.
“[Hunter] said it was established, but I’ve never seen any evidence of that in the Lally bathrooms.”
Upon visiting the Lally School of Education on Nov. 2nd, there were no gender neutral bathrooms to be found in the building.
“The only thing I can recommend right now, since there’s not much action being taken, is…come to [Student Association] meetings and bring it up to SA, and they can bring it to the president. Go to the president yourself, write her emails, write her letters, get people behind you writing letters to make this change,” said Crotty.
Facilities also plays a role in this campus conversation. Each facility, whether it be an academic building or a residential area, have many differences between them. McCarthy Hall, an upperclassmen hall, has six restrooms and none of them are gender specific. The new Veteran Residence has all gender neutral bathrooms, with no signs present.
Jerry Witkop, facilities service response coordinator at the college, referred all questions regarding gender neutral bathrooms to the Public Relations and Marketing Office. Jennifer Gish, assistant vice president for Marketing and Communications, could not provide any information on the topic at this time.
Associate Vice President for Information Technology and Facilities, John Ellis, also referred an interview request to Gish.
Nonetheless, the discussion itself can sometimes be sensitive. When it comes to dealing with the co-ed facilities that already exist on campus, there is not any particular training on how to deal with problems or concerns that might arise outside of the resident assistants’ school-sanctioned safe zone training.
“Transgender people don’t really have that choice in many cases, so I think it is important to allow them that opportunity in their living space especially,” said Tyler Bushey, a resident assistant in Cavanaugh Hall. “If you don’t like it, don’t use it.”
Another local liberal arts college that has made progress on this issue is Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs.
“We do have a few gender neutral bathrooms on campus and I feel like Skidmore is trying to make more. They have some in our science building and I had no problem using it when I had a science class freshman year,” said Lauren Desormeau, a junior at Skidmore College.
The New York State Assembly has passed the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act through the Assembly ten times. In contradiction, according to the National Conference of State Legislators, 16 states including New York have presented drafts of legislation that would restrict access to multi user restrooms, locker rooms, and other sex-segregated facilities on the basis of a definition of sex or gender consistent with sex assigned at birth or “biological sex” through enforcement of separation.
The New York State Assembly proposed a bill last session (A5137A) that would require all single occupancy bathrooms in state owned or operated buildings and office space be designated as gender neutral. The bill has currently passed assembly and senate but has yet to be signed and passed by the governor.
The designation of gender neutral restrooms on campus may be smaller-scale than these legislative battles, but it does not makes them any less important for trans and gender non-conforming persons.
“I think that if the College were to adopt an across the board policy of gender neutral restrooms, those kinds of things go a long way in signaling a move toward greater egalitarianism,” said Ledford.
Students looking to take an active role to educate themselves, can choose to hear out what their transgendered friends and family members have to say about their daily experiences.
“You can’t just be an ally, you have to be a co-conspirator.” said Ledford. “You have to be an active participant in the fight for justice. So let your trans friends take the lead, and you do your part to be that co-conspirator. And in that role you not only let your friends take the lead, but you have to be the warrior in the circle where your trans friends are not.”
Story written and researched by Aileen Burke, Emily Paolicelli, Carly Rodriguez, Kayla DeMicco, Laura Rullo, Justina Torres, Mackenzie Wright, and Alexa Berry
