Gianna Hayes
News Editor
In an email sent out to the campus community on Jan. 30, President Anne McCall outlined responses to recent legislation enacted by the Trump Administration and the Ohio House of Representatives. One such piece of legislation, House Bill (HB) 183 — voted on as part of Senate Bill 104 — prohibits institutions of higher education from designating bathrooms as “nongendered, multigendered, or open to all genders.” Institutions that do not comply risk losing federal funding.
The bill goes into effect Feb. 25 — affecting all multi-occupancy restrooms on campus previously labeled as all-gender. This includes bathrooms in Luce, Holden and Kenarden Halls. HB 183 requires these facilities be labeled as “for the exclusive use by students of the male biological sex only or by students of the female biological sex only.” Single-occupancy spaces also experienced a change in signage, with the previous “all gender restroom” signs being replaced with “single occupancy restroom” signs.
In her email, McCall stated that facilities would be “verifying that bathroom signage is compliant across campus, including in residence halls” starting Feb. 10.
“The goal is to complete all tasks by the required date of February 25th so we aren’t breaking the law,” said John Reynolds, director of residence life.
In correspondence with the Voice, Reynolds outlined how these changes were made and how bathrooms that were previously labelled as all-gender were assigned new signage. Reynolds gathered information on the original floor plans and the active rosters to assign new labels of either “men” or “women” to these multi-occupancy all-gender bathrooms.
“It’s not a perfect system,” Reynolds said. “Residence Life is deeply committed to supporting students, faculty and staff who identify as nonbinary.”
The office is working with Equity and Belonging to support the All-Gender Living and Learning Community, currently located in Kenarden Hall. Proposals to relocate the community to a residence hall with single-occupancy bathrooms are currently under consideration.
Additionally, both McCall and Reynolds noted separately that as buildings continue to be updated across campus, more single-occupancy restrooms will be integrated. Douglass Hall is one of these newly renovated spaces that will provide support through its pod-style bathrooms. Brush, Armington, Andrews and Stevenson Halls also already provide single-occupancy restrooms, with Gault Manor and Gault Schoolhouse having private suite-style bathrooms.
Jake Marion, director of Equity and Belonging, shared their department’s response to HB 183. In addition to working with Reynolds to support the All-Gender community, Marion has been working with the Wellness Center to guarantee that gender nonconforming students are adequately supported with identity-based care.
“We’ve also been working with other partners around campus to ensure queer and trans healthcare, on campus practices, and all the support we’re used to are still available,” Marion said.
Some students have expressed frustration based on the College’s compliance with HB 183, made visible through signs hung from the Bridge in Lowry Student Center on Friday, Feb. 14. The largest banner hung read “TRANS BODIES BELONG DO NOT COMPLY WITH BATHROOM BANS.” By 4 p.m. the same day, these signs were removed by a Lowry Student Center staff member. Pink flyers with similar messaging were also found throughout campus.
“The college has chosen to comply and has been changing bathroom signage across campus since February 10th, or 15 days early […] Why is the school complying early?” demand the authors and distributors of the flyers.
Marion spoke to this concern, saying “The reality is for us to comply by the deadline, we need to start changing them now. There are a lot of bathrooms on campus that will need updated signs and not as many people to make those changes.”
When asked to respond to students’ frustrations, Marion resonated with their grievances.
“I’m frustrated too. I’m nonbinary and am consistently faced with choosing between bathrooms that aren’t labeled for me,” said Marion. “The question we’re asking now is what can we do to support students within this context? If these are the new rules, what can we do to ensure that the queer and trans community still has access to bathrooms?”
Marion left off with a heartening message for students.
“[T]his feels like we’ve been pushed a step back, and maybe we have. But one step back is only one step. One step that shouldn’t overshadow all the forward steps we’ve already taken and are ready to take.”
