Piedmont University has always strived to be an inclusive campus.
Coming soon, the student-success center will have an all-gender bathroom for the use of both students and faculty.
“Courtney Snow is who has been helping make this happen,” said senior MG Gallarelli. “Her office works with accommodations as well as Title XI. When I told her about how I wanted to create a bathroom space for people who don’t conform to the typical gendered bathrooms, she was completely on board. She actually found out that there was a bathroom that wasn’t gendered in the student success center but wasn’t labeled properly and not advertised at all. One thing that Courtney is working on with the bathroom as well is adding a baby changing station so that families have a space to change their baby in private.”
The Student Success Center is a building on campus that students use to do homework, meet with career services and much more. Gallarelli found this non-labeled bathroom in the student-success center to be a perfect opportunity to pitch the idea of creating a bathroom where all students can feel comfortable using.
Gallarelli identifies as non-binary and said, “I don’t feel comfortable going into either gendered bathroom, so I end up just holding my pee all day while in class.”
The new all-gendered bathroom is currently in the works and is expected to be up and running very soon. Once this bathroom is created, the hope is to expand across campus and create more of a comfortable space for those who currently don’t feel comfortable using the current bathrooms on campus.
“I just hope that this bathroom creates a safe space for any person who doesn’t feel comfortable using the typical bathrooms to have a space where they can go pee in peace,” said Gallarelli. “I hope that the students and faculty respond positively to the new bathroom. I think faculty will understand the need for a space like this, and I hope students embrace it as well!”
Once the bathroom is completed, when you walk into the student success center, take a left, and the new all-gender bathroom will be located behind the welcome desk.
