Mizzou Wants To Change Unisex Bathrooms To Be More Inclusive But Can’t Because They Don’t Have The Money

El Taco9 years ago

Thankfully, it’s been a while since Mizzou has popped up in the news feed. The university is still recovering from protests last fall that have, at least to some extent, resulted in a freshman class enrollment that’s 25 percent lower than last year. So yeah, they’ve got some problems. Apparently one of those big problems that needed addressing ASAP was unisex bathrooms. See, the “unisex” thing is apparently a bit too aggressive and not inclusive enough.

From The Columbia Missourian:

Many single-occupancy restrooms across the MU campus that were labeled as ‘unisex’ will be re-labeled ‘toilet’ by the time students return in August.

The change to ‘toilet’ will only affect single-occupancy bathroom stalls. In residential halls, single-occupancy stalls with showers and sinks will be re-labeled ‘shower’ and ‘toilet,’ depending on the contents of the restroom.

The move follows a resolution passed by the Missouri Students Association in January. According to the resolution, the change will ‘make MU’s campus bathrooms more accessible to trans and gender non-conforming students.’

Sterling Waldman, a social justice chair in the MSA Senate, engaged the support of the MSA for the re-labeling. Waldman said the word unisex excludes people who do not identify as male or female.

‘Unisex is just such an uncomfortable and outdated word,’ Waldman said.

I assume this is how the meeting looked:

Yep. Toilet is a much more up-to-date, sexier word.

As someone who has personally attended MSA meetings at Mizzou, this is about par for the course. They once had several meetings on a thing called TigerWatch — a program where students would walk around campus with flashlights late on weekends to scare away any potential criminals. They were essentially hall monitors. Their big breakthrough? They once found a door that was open and it was supposed to be closed. The program didn’t get renewed.

I’m all for inclusion, though. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve needed to shit and walked out only to see “unisex” plastered on the bathroom door. Got me so triggered.

The change, which I’m sure Mizzou students are anxiously awaiting, won’t be one that happens overnight. In fact, it’s probably going to take a long time because the school has no money.

It will cost an estimated $11,600 to change every relevant sign on campus and, due to budget cuts, [Mizzou spokesman Nathan Hurst] said there is insufficient money available to support the entire project.

‘Campus facilities is currently working with students from MSA to identify which bathroom signs are of the highest priority and change the signage on those bathrooms using the remaining $3,000 of the allotted MSA money,’ Hurst said.

Shucks. Only $8,600 short. So close.

I wasn’t aware bathroom signage was such a lucrative business. If you’re hiring, I’ll swap them out for $10K.

Now that Mizzou is back in session, I think it’s time to reload my whiskey stash. We could be in for a ride..

[via The Columbia Missourian]

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