EAST LANSING — When one of Michigan State University’s oldest operating dorms, Campbell Hall, reopened this fall after its $37 million facelift, the historic building featured plenty of updates.
While maintaining the 1939 building’s historical character, the renovation added a new elevator, versatile spaces for studying and playing music, and gender-neutral bathrooms.
Fully unisex bathrooms proved to be a short-lived experiment.
The bathrooms for the 245 residents, most of them first-year students enrolled in the Honors College and Academic Scholars programs, were gender neutral, meaning students could enter into any bathroom in the building to get ready in the morning to brush their teeth before bed.
Instead of offering stalls typically found in public restrooms, Campbell Hall’s bathrooms offer a bit more privacy, with separate rooms set up for showers and bathrooms.
Kat Cooper, director of communications for Student Life and Engagement, said when MSU officials started the renovation project, the goals were to make sure the building aligns with student needs and that it could see continued, long-term use. One of the major changes included upgrades in the bathrooms, designed to bring more privacy after receiving feedback from students. Along with the upgrades came a shift at MSU: gender-neutral bathrooms.
However, by fall break break, signs were hung up beside the bathroom doors, showing that they were single-gendered — at least, they’re supposed to be.
Cooper said the bathrooms were adjusted to give students options, with some being set aside as women’s rooms, some as men’s and some maintaining their gender-neutral setup.
“There were a few students who, this is new, and they weren’t as comfortable as we’d like them to be,” Cooper said. “But some students really liked the configuration. What we did is … we strove to make sure we had options for people.”
Several MSU students told the Lansing State Journal that the signs have been torn down, and the unisex-turned-gendered bathrooms have still been seeing opposite gendered students making their way in.
Gia Jhangiani, a freshman at Michigan State studying psychology, said that by the time she returned to campus from fall break, the signs had been torn down. The bathroom nearest to her room was turned into a men’s room, but still, her and her friends use whichever bathrooms are most convenient, she said.
When selecting housing, students are able to select their preferences, including whether or not they’d like to be in a dorm with communal bathrooms, or if they’d prefer suite style, for example. Jhangiani said she was frustrated with the change to gendered bathrooms because the students assigned to Campbell Hall knew ahead of time that the bathrooms would be all-gendered, and students had time to switch out of the dorm if they didn’t like the setup.
Making the change after the students already had their routines down was strange, Jhangiani said. She said one of her friends started a petition to change the restrooms back to being all-gender inclusive.
“They can keep putting the signs up, but the kids in there will just keep ripping them down,” she said.
Bo Thomas, a freshman studying chemical engineering, said he and his parents thought the idea was a little weird at first, but that he didn’t mind it after experiencing the shared restrooms.
He said it seemed like people might’ve been uncomfortable at the start of the semester, but people got used to it quickly.
Dallas DeBernardi, a freshman studying business management, said, the switch back to gendered restrooms has been an inconvenience.
He said the bathroom across the hall from his dorm room was changed to a women’s only restroom, so now he has to make a longer trek to the men’s room.
“I personally don’t agree with it, I wish it was a mixed bathroom … but if it’s helping everyone else out it’s something I’m willing to do,” he said.
After the construction was completed, Cooper said a survey was sent out to residents where they could respond to the upgrades, highlighting anything the contractors might’ve missed, for example. The biggest complaint, about shower heads, were addressed. Feedback from the students on the co-ed setup was a mixed bag, however.
She said the goal was to provide options for students, allowing them to pick which gender setup worked best for them.
One benefit of the more private bathrooms, Cooper said, is that they leave room for adjustment, so the configurations could change again.
“We’re continually listening to the feedback from our Spartans and striving to make their Spartan experience outstanding,” Cooper said.
Contact Karly Graham at kgraham@lsj.com. Follow her on X at @KarlyGrahamJrn.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Campbell Hall renovation included exclusively co-ed bathrooms before MSU backed off, hung signs
Reporting by Karly Graham, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
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