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All-User Restroom: Todd Library

Why an All-User Restroom Is Being Implemented in Todd Library

The women’s restroom inside Todd Library has been converted into an all-user restroom to promote greater accessibility and inclusivity in the library space as well as to remove barriers to learning and create a more quality learning environment. 

'Learning Environment' Defined

  • When considering the meaning of ‘learning environment,’ what naturally comes to mind will be classrooms, libraries, a professor’s office hours, and various other study spaces spread across Waubonsee’s campuses.
  • However, a learning environment also includes other facilities that students and employees use while working on and off campus because these facilities meet their basic needs, needs they should not have to worry about being met because they should instead be allowed to focus on their education. One of these facilities is restrooms.
  • While a college education does not take place in a restroom, restrooms are still a part of Waubonsee’s learning environment because they support students and faculty while they are learning, working, creating, and discovering.  

The Todd Library Women's Restroom as a Barrier to Learning

The women’s restroom in Todd Library was a barrier to learning for several reasons.

  • In terms of accessibility, for individuals with a disability, using the restroom can be a challenge, and there can be an interruption to learning if they have to search for an accessible restroom elsewhere on campus.
  • In relation to the mental and physical health of library occupants, the library’s learning environment is disrupted for certain occupants who may face anxiety when an all-user restroom is not available to them. This includes parents/guardians with children of a different gender, transgender and genderqueer individuals, and individuals with conditions like Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Crohn’s Disease. This anxiety causes them to interrupt their learning because in order to feel the most comfortable using the restroom, they have to seek out a restroom somewhere else on campus that suits their needs.

The all-user restroom in Todd library will now allow all of these individuals to use the restroom more easily and return to their work sooner, thus creating a more accessible and welcoming learning environment. 

The Needs of Transgender and Genderqueer Individuals

While there are various kinds of people and communities who benefit from an all-user restroom, it is necessary to point out the more specific needs of transgender and genderqueer individuals because the allowance of gender neutral spaces in general is such a controversial topic.

  • When transgender and genderqueer individuals use a gendered restroom, they may experience harassment or violence if other people believe they are in the wrong restroom.
  • They may also feel gender dysphoria, which is a clinically significant distress caused when a person's assigned birth gender is not the same as the one with which they identify; a gendered restroom is a space that reminds these individuals of the mismatch between birth gender and personal gender identity, and this then leads to dysphoria.

An all-user restroom is necessary in providing transgender and genderqueer individuals access to a restroom that they can feel most comfortable and safe using. And in Todd Library, an all-user restroom will show these individuals that their needs are being acknowledged and respected.