Bathrooms are a foundational human need and yet many trans, nonbinary, gender expansive, and gender nonconforming (TGNB) students experience challenges when accessing them throughout higher education settings. Bathrooms are a unique space where gender is performed and scrutinized. This performance can often lead to stress for TGNB community members. Bathroom access is only made more complex based on the geography of where the student attends college and the local intersection of institutional and public policy. This chapter explores three different universities and the complex web of local public policy and institutional policy that impacts bathroom access for students and the entire university community. This chapter explores both the importance of bathrooms and what they mean for TGNB community members and the policy side of the issue offers a greater landscape for change. Change is crucial to support TGNB community members' sense of belonging and their success within the institution either as students or as employees.
A small group of trans, non-binary, gender expansive, and gender non-conforming (TGNB) students are sitting around a room enjoying donuts and catching up about classes and life. This is a recurring space for TGNB students to build community hosted through the office for campus inclusion. They are waiting for their Vice President for Student Affairs (VPSA) to join this meeting at their invitation. She arrives, and they begin to chat about how they have been doing since the last time she saw them as a group. A student brings up a frustration about one of their class buildings, which has no gender-inclusive bathrooms but does provide single-stall gendered bathrooms. This is one of the main academic buildings on campus and students share a chorus of frustration. They are frustrated that the only bathrooms in that building are gendered in a seemingly purposeless manner. They are frustrated that the nearest gender-inclusive bathroom is a few buildings away and that they must make choices that often feel unsafe if they choose to use the gendered bathroom close to their classroom. They feel like their institution has forgotten about them yet again, creating another space where they are not welcome. Many of them have explored transferring to another institution but often remain to get their degrees as quickly as possible so they can begin the next chapter of their lives.
The VPSA hears their frustrations and concerns and affirms that she is also frustrated by this issue. She explains the local fire code requires those facilities to stay gendered. She explains how she’s been trying to work with the facilities team and fire marshall to find an alternative solution but so far has remained stuck. She does say that she’s made a commitment that all new buildings built on campus will have gender-inclusive bathrooms. The building they are sitting in was recently remodeled, and she explains all the decisions she made for the building, including only having gender-inclusive bathrooms in the space. This is a profound commitment knowing that construction has started in the middle of campus for a new student center. The feeling in the room shifts as she shares her commitment and listens to the students share their experiences. The students trust she is advocating for them. The conversation moves back to life on campus and the tension in the air has dissipated.
The VPSA continues to build relationships with this group of students over the course of the school year. She is always willing to come to their recurring meeting to discuss issues they are experiencing on campus and meets with students one-on-one when they want to grab a cup of coffee or have an issue on campus and need her help. The students also understand that although the parameters she is working with are far bigger than her and sometimes entirely outside of her control, her commitment to them is unwavering.
Bathrooms are a fundamental part of one’s day, and yet for many TGNB college students, they can be fraught with complexity depending on the location of their school, as well as institutional and public policy. The fictionalized vignette is inspired by a conversation I witnessed between a group of TGNB students and their VPSA at a small institution on the East Coast, a powerful moment for both the students and me as a graduate assistant in the beginning of my career. As a white, queer, lesbian, child of immigrants, this group of students served to be an important connection point in my own profession and queer journey. I worked with them for close to two years serving as an informal facilitator and advisor helping to make sure they had a welcoming space to meet, treats to enjoy, and stepping in when they needed larger support.
It often can seem like campus decisions are up to a few powerful individuals but in reality, they are made within a complicated web of institutional and public policy. It is critical to be able to untangle where public and institutional policies meet so that appropriate actions can be taken to create necessary changes within our community. Public policy is not perfect, but it deeply influences institutions and the people in them. As professionals working within complex institutions, a working knowledge of policy is needed to create larger change within our institutions and communities.