From the Rocky Top Student Center to the Arnold Bernhard Library, Quinnipiac has implemented gender-neutral restrooms in various buildings across the Mount Carmel, York Hill and North Haven campuses. Students are eager to see more gender-neutral facilities in the future.
Quinnipiac is just one university out of many to have implemented all-gender bathroom facilities on its campuses. Gender-neutral bathrooms have become increasingly more common at universities across the country, from Northwestern University to Dartmouth College in recent years, according to The Huffington Post.
The University has gender-neutral bathrooms that can accommodate the needs of many people, according to Associate Vice President of Operations Terri Johnson.
The gender-neutral facilities at Quinnipiac, 12 of them in total, are single-use, according to Johnson. Single-use all-gender restrooms are designed for use by one individual at a time, regardless of gender.
“These restrooms can benefit many different people, including parents with differently gendered children, alter-abled people who may require the accompaniment of an attendant of a different gender and trans and gender nonconforming people,” Johnson said.
The gender-neutral facilities are spread across all three campuses at Quinnipiac, but since there are only a few, some students are unaware they exist.
Senior theater and English double major, Theo Pinnow, a transgender student at the university, was glad to find out about the all-gender restrooms, though he is adamant that there is still room for improvement.
“I didn’t know we had (all-gender bathrooms), so it is exciting to know that they exist,” Pinnow said.
Though Pinnow lives off-campus, he believes it would be beneficial for every building on campus to have a gender-neutral restroom, residence halls included.
“I think it would be nice if every building has a gender-neutral restroom,” Pinnow said. “I’d have to imagine that students in dorms like Ledges or Irma would have similar worries.”
Alexi Mangili, president of the Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) at Quinnipiac, said the single-use bathrooms will be given a sign on the outside and will be mentioned as all-gender restrooms in Quinnipiac policies. Mangili also hopes for some additions to the gender-neutral facilities in the future.
“If they implement all-gender single use bathrooms with showers, that would be awesome,” Mangili said.
While freshman Casey Krusyman is not involved in the LGBTQ+ community, she believes the gender-neutral facilities are a great asset to Quinnipiac.
“Everyone deserves a safe place, where they shouldn’t have to worry about being made fun of,” Krusyman said.
Quinnipiac’s implementation of all-gender restrooms can be seen as a progressive and beneficial addition to some university students, but somewhat insignificant to others.
But to one transgender student at Quinnipiac, these facilities are essential to ensure safety to transgender or gender nonconforming members of the University community.
“They are definitely needed,” Pinnow said. “The fact that I didn’t know about them says enough. Gender-neutral bathrooms are an easy way to make anyone who’s trans or gender nonconforming feel safe.”
