A new gender-neutral bathroom just opened on the bottom floor of David Saul Smith Union, the College's latest effort to accommodate its LGBTQ population.
Discussion and preparation for the new bathroom began last summer and was supported by the administration through the duration of the project.
The new bathroom is located in what used to be the locker rooms for the old gymnasium near the Polar Bear entrance to Smith Union.
"There are students who need gender-neutral bathrooms here at Bowdoin," said Director for the Resource Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity Kate Stern.
Stern and Associate Director of Facilities Operations Jeff Tuttle did an initial walk through the buildings on campus over the summer to assess the number of gender-neutral bathrooms that already existed at Bowdoin.
Sills Hall, Banister Hall, Hawthorne-Longfellow Library, Buck Fitness Center and Massachusetts Hall already had gender-neutral bathrooms.
Tuttle mentioned that a lot of the smaller buildings had single, appropriately labeled gender-neutral facilities, but noted that the existence of one in Smith Union was "desirable".
"We thought, here's a really big social space with no gender-neutral bathrooms," he said.
Before making the decision to build the bathroom in Smith Union, Stern "asked a group of LGBTQ students which would be most useful."
Though bathroom renovation and construction tends to be fairly expensive, the new bathroom in Smith Union was completed in less than one semester.
Tuttle said, "They basically blocked off the showers, took the shower partitions down, put on a privacy lock, and put in motion sensor lights."
"They found a way to make a gender-neutral bathroom for Smith Union with a nominal cost," explained Stern. He went on to say that it is "wonderful that the administration heard there was such a need."
Students on campus also commented on the support of the administration.
"I'm glad Bowdoin is being so receptive to this," said Daniel Chin '12.
Bowdoin Student Government President John Connolly '11 explained that he submitted one of the first proposals for a gender-neutral bathroom in both Hawthorne-Longfellow Library and Smith Union in April 2008 when he was a first year. The proposal was approved then, and now both buildings now have such facilities available for use.
Said Connolly, "I think we've been progressive and I think we've been moving at a good pace...Ideally there would be more of them, but there are realities of cost."
Attributing much of the positive support to Bowdoin administration, students and especially the athletics department, which ordered almost 500 shirts for Yellow Shirt Day," Stern said, referencing the effort of the Bowdoin Queer Straight Alliance to distribute yellow shirts to the student body in recognition of Out Week.
"I think we're on a forward movement...It's all on a continuum of acceptance," said Stern.
She explained that a group of students on campus are working continuously to make Bowdoin's campus more supportive of the LGBTQ community.
"We have some student leaders working to make it [Bowdoin] more of a 'welcoming' culture, not just a 'fine' culture."
While Stern said that the topic of gender-neutral bathrooms in college residences has "been talked about", she said "it's not quite on the radar screen yet."
Nevertheless, "There is a commitment...to think about gender-neutral bathrooms in constructions and renovations," Stern said.
Tuttle said, "I think Thorne and Moulton are two of the places we need to look at next...between Facilities and Kate, we have identified the areas we need to work on."