Why No Gender? How Gender-Neutral Bathrooms Arose at UWSP

What is a Gender Neutral Bathroom? 

If you are reading this, there is a high likelihood that you are in a gender-neutral bathroom right now! Gender-neutral bathrooms are public utilities that give spaces for people to “do their business” regardless of their gender identity or expression. These look like any other bathroom, with the sole exception that they are marked with a symbol indicating they are not exclusively for male or female identifying individuals. But how did this come to be? And why are they not universal? 

Construction for Change

In 2004, the Dreyfus University Center was set to undergo a massive renovation to better support students.  With this new construction came new opportunities to expand inclusivity at UWSP- something that the Genders and Sexualities Alliance (GSA) of UWSP took full advantage of.

DUC Reopening, Photo by Katie Leb

As noted by the Pointer, from the years of 2004-2007 the GSA advocated for gender neutral bathrooms on campus, using the DUC construction as an opportunity to get the first gender-neutral bathrooms on campus, and fighting for legislation that ensured all newly built buildings would be required to “incorporate gender neutral bathrooms…with a locking door.”  

Reaching Further into Academia

On March 27, 2012, the “Resolution for The Implementation of Gender-Neutral Restrooms” was proposed to the Student Government Association at UWSP, authored originally by Kassie Baron, a senator for the College of Letters and Science. It was then sponsored by the College of Fine Arts and Communications caucus chair, Ryan Specht, and brought to the floor.

This bill established access to bathrooms as a human necessity and defined the queer community as a vulnerable group on campus that would benefit from the introduction of gender-neutral bathrooms as a step towards equality and inclusive excellence. With these goals in mind, the bill proposed the University take action by installing bathrooms in all academic buildings, athletic buildings, and the student support building. It was met with resounding success once it hit the floor, being passed just a week later on April 5, 2012. 

A New Horizon: Residence Halls  

In June 2015, the first gender neutral bathrooms came to UWSP’s residence halls, introduced to the second-floor bathrooms of Smith, Watson, and Steiner Hall. This was met with not only a positive response, but students calling for the university to expand access to this resource. As one student notes:

9/16/2015 Issue of The Pointer

Over the next few years, student responses to the change were carefully observed, and in 2017, gender neutral bathroom access was expanded so that all residence halls contained a gender-neutral bathroom in the basement of their buildings. While there was some minor pushback from parents, there was mostly a positive acceptance of the change, as noted by a residence life employee:

“I heard some mutterings from parents during the move-in process but I haven’t, like, heard any actual things from residents” -Watson Hall CA Veronica Reske

Modern Challenges

As of 2026, not all facilities within UWSP contain gender neutral bathrooms. With the 2026 Greenfund proposal, attempts were made to convert one of the bathrooms in the Communication Arts Center (CAC) to be gender neutral, as it is one of three of the remaining academic buildings without one. However, this project proposal was denied due to a mix of inadequate funding and waiting for the University to tackle this initiative on a broader scale.