By Victor Ordonez

Gender signs have been removed and replaced from 56 single-occupancy bathrooms on Fordham’s Rose Hill Campus, making them gender-neutral. These bathrooms are now “accessible to any member of the Fordham community”, according to Christopher Rodgers, dean of students.

According to Rodgers said a formal list of the new facilities and their locations would be made available online.
“We want to make it as easy as possible for members of our community to find these new facilities,” said Rodgers “The list will go to student leaders and onto Fordham’s website.”

Of the 56 gender-neutral bathrooms listed, 12 are located off campus. These single-occupancy restrooms are accessible to off-campus residents in their respective Fordham housing. Housing on Hughes Avenue alone saw eight converted bathrooms.

The McGinley Center is listed to have two completely accessible bathrooms on the second floor in room 237. Walsh Library is listed to have a converted bathroom as well, located behind the Electronic Information Center in the basement.

Multiple on-campus dormitories will also house converted restrooms, including Alumni Court South, Loschert Hall, O’Hare Hall and Campbell Hall.
However, Tierney Hall and Queens Court remain off the list of buildings that will be provided with converted restrooms. These dormitories do not offer single-occupancy restrooms to students, but rather offer community restrooms located on each respective floor. Each of these restrooms are gender specific.

“We have shared a helpful list with various members of the University community,” said Rodgers. Members of the PRIDE alliance were pleased by the University’s decision to add these bathrooms.

PRIDE e-board member Claire Del Sorbo, FCRH ’19, found the new facilities to be a step in the right direction for Fordham’s campus.

“While it’s a start to have the single-occupancy bathrooms made gender-neutral, it is important that people who don’t necessarily align with a traditional gender binary have a safe place to exercise their bodily functions,” said Del Sorbo.

Other PRIDE members echoed Del Sorbo’s comment. Eileen McLean, FCRH ’18, found that the changes to the listed bathrooms shared a message with the Fordham community.

“It’s not like they weren’t accessible,” said McLean, “but the message that they are now gender-inclusive is more reassuring to genderqueer and nonbinary students who felt like they didn’t have anywhere to go before then.”