For some members of the community, deciding which public bathroom to enter structures a decent part of their day. Indeed, in certain cases, they may not be able to use a public bathroom at all.
According to Zach Strassburger ’06, bathrooms function as a tacit societal symbol of acceptance and decorum. Those who are wheelchair-bound may feel dissuaded from using certain facilities or participating in certain events because they know that they will be unable to use the bathrooms available to them. Others fear the harassment and potential harm they risk when entering a single-gender bathroom because their physical appearance defies traditional gender norms.
“Nobody asks how you identify before they say, ‘Get out of here,’” said Strassburger.
In order to address the dearth of gender-neutral bathrooms available on campus and to check these facilities for wheelchair accessibility, the student group Survey of Wesleyan Access to Bathrooms (SWAB) measured, examined, and evaluated restrooms on Friday, April 14. Using a checklist employed at other universities and public spaces that they customized for Wesleyan, SWAB intends to use the data collected by over 80 volunteers to provide specific recommendations for physical plant, and to publish the locations of gender-neutral and wheelchair-accessible bathrooms online. Approximately 70 percent of volunteers were University students, though many members of the ResLife staff participated.
The preliminary results proved disappointing.
“I think there were hardly any [bathrooms] that were completely accessible,” said Dan Grassian ’09.
Both Grassian and Strassburger highlighted the ways that something as seemingly innocuous as bathrooms can prove daunting. According to Strassburger, even when wearing SWAB t-shirts and carrying measuring tape, some of the SWAB volunteers said they were uncomfortable entering bathrooms designated for the gender opposite to the one with which they identified. While the physical threat in male bathrooms may be greater, a trans female entering a women’s bathroom may also be scrutinized.
“I think women’s bathrooms are a lot more policed,” Strassburger said.
Furthermore, though some women feel comfortable using a male bathroom, for instance, Grassian said that an ambiguously gendered person using a male bathroom becomes something entirely different.
Strassburger said that research has proved that allegations that gender-neutral bathrooms may be dangerous are false.
According to Grassian, in some instances, minor changes, such as adjusting the height of paper towel dispensers, or changing bathroom doorknobs, would make restrooms more inviting to people with diverse physical needs. Yet, even in cases where wheelchair access functioned as an explicit concern, such as in the renovations to Downey House, the SWAB volunteers found flaws in bathroom design. Strassburger said the weight of the bathroom doors in Downey House makes it difficult for someone in a wheelchair to open them without assistance.
SWAB emerged as a collaborative effort between the Queer Task Force, a subcommittee of the Wesleyan Student Assembly; the Office of Residential Life; and the gender/trans student group. Grassian and Strassburger said that SWAB’s long-term goals include increasing the number of gender-neutral and wheelchair-accessible bathrooms on campus and amplifying the visibility of these bathrooms. Strassburger pointed out that though the Science Center currently houses a gender-neutral bathroom, there are no signs in the building that make it clear. One looking for a gender-neutral bathroom could easily miss it.
Though college students may be able to arrange their days in order to find time to use a bathroom in which they feel comfortable, according to Grassian and Strassburger, faculty and staff working in a single building throughout the day may not have this luxury.
Grassian said the issue is also pressing for high school students who may not be able to leave the premises in order to find a bathroom. He said that the SWAB members have discussed the possibility of conducting a similar survey in some of the Middletown schools.
“[But] first, we have to look at Wesleyan,” he said.
Both Grassian and Strassburger were optimistic about the turnout for the bathroom survey.
“[The turnout shows that] many students really do care about [gender-neutral and wheelchair accessible] bathrooms,” Grassian said.
“People whom I’ve never seen doing anything activist oriented at Wesleyan were measuring bathrooms,” Strassburger said.