In May 2012, the International Center for Ethics, Justice, and Public Life ran an “Ethical Inquiry” on gendered restrooms and the University’s policy toward making restrooms more inclusive. At the time that the piece was written, the University allowed students to vote on whether dorm restrooms would be gender-neutral or not. This was the first prominent mention of gender-inclusive restrooms in either dorms or public spaces at Brandeis. As of this academic year, explicitly gender-inclusive bathrooms are available to first-year students for the first time — although in the past, floors could vote to make bathrooms gender-inclusive — and there are 20 explicitly gender-inclusive bathrooms and eight gendered but single-access restrooms on campus, according to the Gender and Sexual Diversity Center’s website. Currently, a gender-inclusive bathroom is being constructed in the Goldfarb Library. The University predicts the project will be completed by the end of the school year.

However, while significant progress has been made since the International Center for Ethics, Justice, and Public Life’s 2012 piece, there is still work to do. Currently, many major public campus buildings, including the Sherman Function Hall, the Mandel Center for the Humanities and the Carl & Ruth Shapiro Admissions Center, lack gender-inclusive restrooms. Additionally, there is only one gender-inclusive shower facility in the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center. 

There are no existing plans to build gender-inclusive facilities in any of these locations — according to an email to the Justice from Michael McGarry, the associate director of design and construction at the University — nor are there any plans to convert single-occupancy gendered bathrooms into single-occupancy gender-inclusive bathrooms.

This board acknowledges that it takes time and money to build single-occupancy gender-inclusive bathrooms, the current model that the University uses. We also acknowledge that expanding gender-inclusive bathrooms takes more than simply changing signage. According to McGarry, “The plumbing code requires a certain number of male and female fixtures in a building based on occupancy.  A bathroom cannot be converted to gender inclusive if it reduces the number of male and female fixtures in the building to below the minimum required.” Gendered bathrooms that are single-occupancy cannot just have their sign changed to be gender-inclusive, and each change needs to be made on a case-by-case basis so that the plumbing code is still met. However, that does not mean that the University should not strive to correct this problem.

We encourage the University to continue to expand available gender-inclusive spaces and facilities in major campus buildings, in all housing quads and in all academic buildings. While transgender and non-binary students are a minority at the University, they still deserve the basic right of easily accessible restrooms in all public buildings and dormitories on campus. They should not have to wait to access restrooms in certain buildings simply because those restrooms are not slated to be renovated in the near future. Additionally, transgender and nonbinary students are not the only ones who could benefit from increased single-occupancy gender-inclusive restrooms. Visitors with small children, those who may have limited mobility and students who simply want some privacy all could use and enjoy increased single-occupancy facilities around campus. It is the University’s responsibility to continue to expand access to gender-inclusive restrooms and to make sure that all students, regardless of their gender, are able to access the facilities that they need.