Group of students continues to push for gender-neutral restrooms

The push for more gender-neutral restrooms on campus is still on the agenda for Oakland University’s GayStraight Alliance, according to the student organization’s president, Blake Bonkowski.

Formerly a joint effort between the GSA, Transcend and the Intro to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Studies class taught by assistant professor of social work, Dalton Connally, the project is now being handled by the GSA, the Gender and Sexuality Center as well as Student Congress, according to Bonkowski.

Bonkowski said the group hopes to create at least one gender-neutral restroom in each building on campus.

Samantha Wolf, president of OUSC, said she was approached by a student at the beginning of the year when this class was working on getting signatures of support for the gender-neutral bathrooms.

“I had informed her (the student) if she needed help I would love to assist in the project,” Wolf said. “From this point I have been getting some information from Blake and we had talked about when the class was done (beginning of December) we would start working together to really push for more gender-neutral bathrooms on campus.”

Wolf said as student body president, she has the ability to have discussions with administration on a regular basis.

“Working with Blake, OUSC and other gender-neutral bathroom supporters will allow the administration to see all the student support there is for this cause,” Wolf said.

So far Dean of Student Life Glenn McIntosh, Vice President of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management Mary Beth Snyder, University President Gary Russi, Interim Senior Vice President Academic Affairs and Provost Susan Awbrey and OC Director Richard Fekel have all heard about this initiative.