Conflict in the Gender Neutral Hall

Posted by Charli Renken in LGBTQ+

Dee Rose in the gender neutral bathroom. Photo by Lauren Eubanks

Gender neutral hall residents have been in conflict this semester when it comes to the signage of their restrooms. Last year, the hall’s multi-stall restrooms were very clearly labeled as gender neutral, which allow any student, regardless of gender, to use them. While this year the hall was supposed to be gender neutral, the multi-stall restrooms were labeled with “Men” and “Women” signs. However, residents have collectively decided to use the restrooms as if they were gender neutral. Despite this, there have been recent allegations of conflict with facility workers over this decision.

Resident Brian Iglesias claims he was told to leave the restroom by one of the janitors on the basis that he was a man in what had been labeled as a women’s bathroom.

“I explained to her that the hall was gender neutral, so the signs didn’t mean anything and pointed to the ‘Human’ sign I’d made out of sticky notes to put over the ‘Women’ sign. She looked me dead in the eyes and tore it down,” he said. Later, Iglesias replaced his signs but they didn’t last the night. The next morning, Iglesias says he found the janitors cleaning and the signs were gone. “I just kept replacing them after that. I had plenty of sticky notes,” he said.

Covering the Men’s sign on the gender neutral hall bathroom. Photo by Lauren Eubanks

Creative Writing major Dee Rose described a comparable experience. “I was in the bathroom washing my face… This guy from the cleaning staff walks in and tells me I can’t be in there. I thought he meant because he had to clean, so I pointed out that I wasn’t the only one in there. Both my hands and face are covered in soap during this whole conversation. He tells me again that I have to leave, but this time he says it’s because I’m a woman in the men’s restroom. I try to tell him that it’s gender neutral, but he said ‘No, the sign says men’s, so it’s men’s.’ I tried again to clarify that even though the sign says it’s men’s, it’s not….Everybody is allowed regardless of gender. He still makes me leave. I got the soap off my hands, but not my face. So I found myself sitting in my room, face full of soap, and my glasses still in the bathroom,” she said.

After learning from Housing Director Connor Nelson that the hall wasn’t fully gender neutral, Iglesias made the decision to stop making his temporary signs until the hall was officially labeled as gender neutral in the school’s system. Nelson has released a survey for residents of the hall to officially make a decision on the restrooms. Until every resident has taken the survey, a decision about the bathrooms will not be officially made.

Other residents took up the gauntlet and continued to cover the permanent signs with temporary, paper ones. One student, who wishes to remain anonymous, decided to remove the permanent “Men” and “Women” signs completely, hoping that would solve the issue. However, there are obvious problems with this approach.

Brenda Lemieux, resident of the gender neutral hall. Photo by Lauren Eubanks

“They really shouldn’t have done that,” Nelson said, explaining that if the hall were to be used as anything other than a gender neutral hall in the future, they would need to order new signs. “We didn’t say anything about it, though,” he said, explaining that he understands the desperation behind the removal. Housing decided to not take action against the student for removing the sign and hopes that once the survey is complete, they can put up new, gender neutral signs for the hall. “We’re just waiting on a few people to turn in their survey before we make a decision,” Nelson added.

While residents hoped removing the signs would solve the issue, this wasn’t the case. Allegedly, at least one janitor began writing “Men” on one of the restrooms in permanent marker.

“She just came through with a sharpie… and wrote on the door. I was watching her, and she knew I was, but she just looked at me and wrote on the door anyway and walked out,” Rose said. In addition to Rose, three other residents have reported to Jackalope seeing the janitor writing on the door as well, but were too late to stop her from doing so.

“It’s extremely disrespectful. I’m very frustrated,” said Alex Slim, who was with Rose when one of the incidents occurred. While residents have tried to cover the writing up—first with paper signs before resulting to painting over it with the same color as the door—the writing has continued. “It causes so much anxiety for us,” Slim said.

Resident Brenda Lemieux said she has also witnessed the same janitor writing on the doors.

“It’s not in their job description. They’re supposed to clean and fix things. This is just excessive. It’s creepy, annoying, and frustrating,” Lemieux said. She witnessed the same janitor writing on the door when the janitor wasn’t working. She said that the janitor didn’t have any cleaning supplies with her and left immediately after writing on the door.

According to Lemieux, residents have been emailing the administration about the situation but the majority have not heard back. At least one email was sent to Student Life Operations Manager Terrence Sanders. As this is a Facilities issue, Sanders said he forwarded the email to Facilities Director Peter Romero. Romero denies having received the email. However, Romero tells Jackalope that Facilities receives so many emails a day that it could have slipped through the cracks.

Romero believes that the majority of the conflict is hearsay and that until Jackalope reached out to him for comment, no one had brought it to his attention.

Peter Romero in his office. Photo by Lauren Eubanks

“If they were asked to leave it was probably because [the bathrooms] needed to be cleaned. It had nothing to do with their gender,” he said. Romero also said he believes the situation is based on miscommunication.

“I spoke with the janitor and she says she didn’t do it,” he said, adding that, if anything, the students are defacing school property by painting over the writing. “There are other ways to go about this. [Students should] submit a work order and over the break, we will sand down the doors and repaint them,” he said and suggested that residents should lend a hand in that labor. “It’s about respect. It’s a two-way street.”

Sanders also sees the issue as primarily one of communication. “The hall’s residents weren’t communicated with that the hall wasn’t [fully] gender neutral. [Housing’s] compromise was to have two gendered bathrooms and one gender neutral, but that wasn’t communicated to the residents,” he said. He went on to say that once the students decided to have the hall be gender neutral, that wasn’t communicated to Facilities, which could explain the confusion.

While Romero is skeptical of the eyewitness accounts, he has agreed to talk to the janitorial staff about the hall. He promises to make sure the janitors understand that the hall is gender neutral so that allegations like this don’t come up again. He wants to break the miscommunication that’s been occurring. “Our mission statement is ‘Live, Learn, and Excel.’ I care about my students,” he said.