University Times

What are the standard procedures governing use of on-campus restrooms by transgendered members of the Pitt community? Are those procedures well understood by the community and enforced uniformly University-wide?

Those were the issues addressed this week at the University Senate anti-discriminatory policies (ADP) committee meeting.

For two years, ADP has been investigating broad issues related to the appropriate application of the University’s nondiscrimination policy to transgendered members of the Pitt community. (See Dec. 8 and Jan. 26 University Times.) The University’s nondiscrimination policy (Policy 07-01-03) forbids discrimination on the basis of “gender identity and expression,” in keeping with the City of Pittsburgh’s nondiscrimination ordinance.

For the purposes of the Feb. 21 meeting, however, committee members agreed to narrow the focus to discuss what they said was among the least-controversial scenarios — the use of gender-specific restroom facilities — and to table for future discussion other transgender issues, such as appropriate use of locker rooms and assignment of roommates in on-campus residence halls.

Regarding those more complicated issues, the committee agreed to petition Faculty Assembly to establish a University-wide ad hoc committee that would report back to ADP for potential further action.

Regarding the use of gender-specific restrooms, Carol Mohamed, director of the Office of Affirmative Action, Diversity and Inclusion and a nonvoting chancellor’s liaison to the committee, noted that the nondiscrimination policy governs the issue, but that the “operating procedures” regarding restroom facilities are not specified in written form.

“I deal with situations on a case-by-case basis,” Mohamed explained. “What I can tell you is that I have been consistent in what I tell people.”

As an example, Mohamed said, she recently received a letter from a third party describing a complaint from a transgendered individual who presents as female. According to the letter, the individual had been followed into a campus women’s restroom by a woman who told her, “You know you’re not supposed to be in here” and, as a result, the person felt frightened and was confused about her rights.

“Now, that shouldn’t happen. If a health care provider says that John is now Jane, then we have sanctioned Jane’s using the women’s restroom,” Mohamed said.

She said she contacted the challenged person. “I  urged the individual if this occurs ever again to try to feel empowered enough to say to the person challenging you: ‘I’m allowed to be here. This is where I’m supposed to be. And if you have a concern about it, please contact the Office of Affirmative Action, Diversity and Inclusion.’ Then, I’ll explain how things work for them,” Mohamed said.

She cautioned, however, that providing formal documentation of a person’s gender from a health care professional, typically someone with a PhD or MD degree, is a necessary step for her to be able to enforce the procedure.

“I cannot back up someone’s right to use restroom X or Y unless I have some documentation, such as a letter. In this particular case, I know the individual had documentation.”

Anti-discriminatory policies committee chair Jane Feuer asked whether, absent a written University policy specific to restrooms, the standard procedure employed on the Pittsburgh campus applies equally to the regional campuses.

“Since the gender identity and expression [clause] does apply to the regional campuses, does this procedure apply also?” Feuer asked.

Kathy Humphrey, vice provost and dean of students who is a Provost’s office liaison, responded, “The University operates in two ways: There are policies and there are procedures. Both must be followed [University-wide]. Sometimes the procedures are written, sometimes they’re not. Both must be followed.”

Mohamed said she would contact her counterparts at the regional campuses. “We have Title IX and affirmative action contacts at each of the regionals. Since I didn’t poll everyone, I don’t feel comfortable saying they’re all following [the procedure], but I think they are. I will confirm that” and report to ADP, she said.

Committee members were undecided about whether to recommend codifying the restroom-specific procedures into a formal policy.

But they did agree that the University should do a better job of disseminating the procedures to the Pitt community. Discussion ensued on the merits of adding a component to freshman, new faculty and new employee orientation and other informational sessions; printing informational brochures; establishing a web site, and/or distributing maps showing the location of on-campus gender-neutral restrooms as an additional option.

Humphrey agreed to consult with student groups about the best way to disseminate that knowledge to the student population.

ADP member Mark Anderson argued for broadening the discussion at future meetings to include changing the University’s culture regarding how transgendered individuals are treated.

“I’m wondering how as a committee we can begin thinking how to position the University to where challenging someone based on gender is not a possibility,” Anderson said.

“I’m finding that this [procedure] is so constraining that it’s not changing conditions of campus culture for transgendered people. It’s basically a stop-gap measure for incidents of challenging people just for who they are.”

It’s a good thing to have procedures in place for when a challenge occurs, he acknowledged.

“But it seems like this is a procedure that actually supports challenges indirectly, that says challenging is something we anticipate, something we understand. That seems a little bit wrong-headed to me. Can this committee [in the future] shift the conversation to where challenging someone’s gender is simply not allowed?” Anderson asked.

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In other committee developments:

• The next meeting of the ADP is scheduled for 9 a.m. March 20 in 526 CL.

• Members agreed that, as a courtesy, nonvoting members of the committee should be copied on email correspondence, even when the correspondence is intended as a voting vehicle.

—Peter Hart