TO THE EDITOR:
An editorial in Friday’s The Daily Tar Heel (“One step forward, three steps back for inclusivity”) questioned the removal of the gender-neutral restroom signage at The Campus Y.http://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2016/09/opinion-one-step-forward-three-steps-back-for-inclusivity
To clarify and put the sign removal into context, the Campus Y was not targeted for sign replacement.
Rather, it was one stop among many by Facilities Services staff to post consistent, compliant signage throughout campus to indicate gender-neutral facilities and to add to the campus inventory of gender-neutral facilities.
Regardless of intent, however, we do recognize the sensitivity around this issue.
In response to the concerns that were shared during the first week of the semester about signage, we are changing signs for all gender-neutral facilities to a pictogram of a toilet and the word “restroom,” which still follows federal government recommendations and is a clearly recognizable symbol used around the world.
This news was shared in the Chancellor’s Aug. 31 email about campus inclusivity efforts that went to all students and employees.
As a reminder, to follow up our announcement last April, UNC Facilities is on track to add 150 gender-neutral restroom facilities to our campus (bringing the total to close to 300) and has created an interactive map (accessible from http://maps.unc.edu) to identify locations for these restrooms.
We remain committed to inclusivity on the Carolina campus and continue to focus our efforts to best address the needs of our campus as quickly as possible.
