Clarion University designates all-gender restrooms

From staff reports

CLARION – Clarion University has designated all-gender restrooms in 11 buildings on the Clarion campus and in one building on the Venango campus in Oil City.

The facilities department identified buildings that had one-stall restroom facilities and converted those to all-gender restrooms.

The cost was minimal for those conversions; only locks and signs needed to be added, according to Amy Salsgiver, interim director of social equity.

“We started looking at all-gender facilities prior to the Obama administration’s call for it to happen,” Salsgiver said. “We saw a need on our campus, and we decided to address it prior to any guidance or mandate by federal or state law,” she said.

Other all-gender facilities will be added as buildings are scheduled to be renovated.

Salsgiver noted that the all-gender restrooms are not specific to transgender people. She said they are an option for anyone wanting privacy or for a parent with a child.

Buildings on the Clarion University campus with all-gender restrooms are Becht Hall, Becker Hall, Campus View Suites (residents only, not open to public), Carrier Administration Building, Eagle Commons dining facility (access limited to customers), Gemmell Student Complex, Marwick-Boyd Fine Arts Center, McEntire Maintenance Building, the speech and hearing clinic, Suites on Main North and Valley View Suites.

Montgomery Hall is the one building at Venango College with an all-gender restroom.