After complaints from students and parents who felt uneasy with the arrangement, Michigan State University has partially walked back its choice to convert all communal bathrooms in its honors residence hall to co-ed.
According to a parent’s letter, at least one student looked for other facilities because parents weren’t told in advance that bathrooms would no longer be divided by gender. Last week, authorities put up new signs at Campbell Hall to designate some bathrooms by gender. This adjustment came about as a result of a formal complaint and survey results that revealed residents’ unease with a $37.1 million renovation that had turned all 20 shared bathrooms into unisex facilities.
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MSU stated that it switched to unisex community bathrooms at Campbell Hall in order to accommodate a potential change in student demographics. These were the first co-ed shared restrooms of their kind in any of the university’s 27 dorms.
MSU spokesperson Kat Cooper stated in a statement to Bridge Michigan that “the decision was made to provide options for students” after reviewing the survey data.
The honors dorm has 20 shared bathrooms and five individual restrooms spread across four stories. Cooper stated that she wasn’t sure how many of the communal bathrooms would stay unisex and how many would be designated as male or female.
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School officials stated in an email to Campbell Hall residents that bathrooms “will be configured as much as possible to the gender make-up of the community” on the ground and first floors, where there are two community bathrooms, and that “gendered bathroom options” will be available on the second and third floors of the dorm, where there are eight community bathrooms, as well as single-use restrooms.
The email reads, “We wanted to make sure that these adjustments didn’t require any room changes. “The goal of the updates is to give residents more options and make them feel more at ease in their everyday activities.”
Several members of the MSU Board of Trustees stated this week that the university was correct in heeding the opinions of students and parents.
Trustee Mike Balow stated, “I’m glad the university is responsive to the concerns of its students.”
Trustee Dennis Denno added, “It’s crucial for our students to feel at ease and have alternatives. The university is doing the right thing.”
The Associated Press is credited with contributing to this article.
