Photo courtesy of Creative Commons
Adrian Suarez Avila/ News Director
Construction of a gender neutral bathroom is projected for the end of the semester.
According to Larry Lunsford, vice president of Student Affairs, the conversation to house gender neutral bathrooms in the University began over a year ago.
Among the individuals involved in the discussion were Gisela Vega, associate director of LGBT initiatives in the Office of Multicultural Programs and Services, referenced Lunsford.
For Lunsford, the two major concerns regarding the bathroom were cost and location.
The present projection estimates that the bathroom’s construction will cost around $350,000.
The funds for the project come from the Capital Improvement Trust Fund, state funding that may be used for student buildings. A portion of the cost will also come from the student health fee that is included in the cost of student tuition.
While he admits that the University isn’t home to a large transgender population, Lunsford admitted that a population exists nonetheless.
He added that the gender neutral bathroom will help those who feel unsafe using a restroom designated for the gender with which they identify feel more comfortable.
The sign that will be designated for the bathroom will feature a male and female stick figure standing next to one another, with the word, Restroom, labeled below the figures.
According to Sanyo Mathew, senior director of the Graham Center in the Modesto A. Maidique Campus, the bathroom will be installed in GC in Room 161, in front of the Student Government Association chambers.
At present, GC 161 is a storage room for the Office of Orientation and Parent Programs. The storage room will be moved to an area in GC by the loading dock.
The restrooms across the SGA chambers will also be undergoing renovations when construction starts on the gender neutral bathroom.
Construction is projected to begin in either March or May.
According to Mathew, who assumed his directorship in August 2014 when the project was already approved, starting the construction in March will increase the chances of having the facility ready by the fall semester.
Lunsford, however, believes the project will begin in May, keeping in mind that construction may cause distractions if it were done during the semester when classes are in full swing.
Students weighed in on the development.
Johana Rios, a senior criminal justice major, believes there will be both positive and negative impacts.
“When you’re dealing with anything LGBT, it’s going to have a weird critical reception. But at the end of the day I think it’s good to have [a gender neutral bathroom] because, first of all, it shows that FIU is more in tune with the times, and secondly, we need that.”
Other students were not open to the idea.
“I think this will just open up a can of worms,” said Chloe Brendan, a freshman international relations major. “People will start using the bathroom even if they aren’t transgender, and besides, I’m not comfortable with that particular life choice.”
The bathroom, however, won’t be the first gender neutral bathroom in the University.
According to Andrew Naylor, occupancy manager and associate director of University Housing, several housing complexes are already featuring gender neutral bathrooms.
Among these complexes are Parkview, Everglades, and Lakeview North and South.
For Mathew, the new development will go a long way to help more than just transgender individuals.
Once completed, the bathroom, which will be open for use for one person at a time, will be fully equipped with a diaper changing station.
Mathew said that when the University opened its doors in the 1970s the bathrooms didn’t include this feature. He also added that in other restrooms, where diaper changing stations are included, they are usually found in just women’s bathrooms, when in the modern age men travel just as much with their children.
“We need to enable our students to be self-sufficient,” Mathew said, adding that the development will help students who are visitors of the Disability Resource Center.
One of the things that Mathew wants to address with the project is that students in wheelchairs need to be able to have access to the new space.
Despite the fact that specific sections are reserved for disabled individuals in bathrooms within the University, some students complain that there still isn’t enough space to enter with their caregivers, according to Mathew, who says that this is a common complaint among visitors of the DRC.
He commented that the University needs to push the bar in regards to building code regulations, which dictate the amount of space that should be reserved to accomodate people who use the bathrooms.
While the University’s standard building code dictates that doors should be 36 inches wide, the door for the gender neutral bathroom will be 42 inches, featuring an extra six inches that will help accommodate students who use wheelchairs and need some more space to enter rooms.
A section of the room will be converted into a custodial room for storage.
In addition to the construction of the gender neutral bathroom, renovations will also be done on the restrooms in front of the SGA chambers.
Once construction is complete, Mathew believes that the question will come down to who actually uses the bathroom.
For Mathew, it’ll be up to the community to decide whether or not to use the bathroom for its intended purposes.
The construction season is estimated to last between two to four months, setting aside enough time to examine the infrastructure inside GC 161 and set up an adequate piping system.