President Donald Trump’s plans for Project 2025 are coming to fruition and making their way to the University of Kansas.
Grace Pearson Scholarship Hall has been a coed scholarship hall that has provided gender-inclusive community-style bathrooms since 2021 and gender-inclusive room assignments (GIA) since 2022.
Student residents of GP received an email from KU Housing & Residence Life on Feb. 5 stating that the coed hall will have gendered room assignments and gendered community-style bathrooms in the upcoming school year.
Aphid Sylvester, a senior at KU, has been a resident in GP since August 2021 and has been one of many students over the years that have benefited from GIA. Sylvester expressed his concerns about the changes and the effects it will have on future LGBTQ+ students in GP.
“Many of my close friends live in this hall, and they will be forced to leave if these policies go through,” Sylvester said. “I’ve helped build this community into what it is, and that’s supposed to be my legacy as a KU student. To force people who need GIA to move out of GP will decimate the culture we’ve built.”
The email further states that KU housing has a responsibility to ensure that its policies align with the university’s, along with local, state and national regulations. As a result, certain housing options, such as GIA, will no longer be available at Grace Pearson Scholarship Hall.
“A specific portion of that responsibility is to designate community-style bathrooms in housing facilities with a gender of either male or female,” the email stated.
According to the email, residents have the option to remain in GP for the upcoming academic year, but will have to select a room assignment of male or female. The first and second floor will be set for female residents, while the third floor will house male residents for 2025-2026.
Rooming assignments in Grace Pearson will now coordinate with students’ housing portal information. If a transgender student has yet to pursue a gender marker change and their KU information has not been updated, then that student would have to choose a male or female living assignment that aligns with what is on their KU records. Options for nonbinary and other gender-diverse students remain unclear.
“It’s difficult and demoralizing to have to change your gender marker just so you can room with the person you want to room with,” said Meghan Arias, a junior at KU and third year resident at GP.
Other options include completing a Gender Inclusive Agreement, which is available in the housing portal when selecting “Special Interest Community,” by Monday, “to be considered in areas outside of Grace Pearson,” according to the email. Other special interest communities include groups such as ROTC or engineering majors, as examples.
Since GP residents will no longer have access to GIA, housing has directed scholarship hall students to pursue K.K. Amini Hall, which includes en suite restrooms that abide by university and national policies. Other options reside on Daisy Hill residence halls, and Jayhawker Towers.
“The spots in K.K. are limited, and the places on the hill and in towers are often prohibitively expensive,” Sylvester said. “Most housing is designated male or female, and there are so many people who might not fit into one of those labels.”
Residents were informed of an upcoming hall meeting that would be taking place hours after the email was sent. Three housing representatives were present, in addition to roughly 20 residents who banded together during the meeting.
Simon Davis, a 27-year-old freshman at KU, attended the meeting.
“It felt like they were talking in circles; they were not able to give concrete answers,” Davis said. “They seemed very set on the fact that if you want gender-inclusive housing, you have to have an en suite bathroom.”
The Department of Education had shared a statement on Jan. 31 that they would be enforcing the Trump administration’s 2020 Title IX Rules. These policies would enforce gendered restrooms and gendered housing based on biological sex, and limit access to gender-inclusive assignments on campus.
Residents who had planned to continue residing in GP for the upcoming academic year expressed their concerns to housing about the changes. As a result, Housing Executive Director Sarah Waters wrote to address the changes in an email on Feb. 13.
KU Housing’s email stated that “multi-stalled bathrooms in residential dormitory buildings are required by International Building Code (IBC Chapter 29, 2902.2) to have separate facilities provided by sex.” The email refers to the 2018 IBC, which focuses primarily on restroom and housing spaces to be assigned as male or female.
However, the 2024 IBC includes language about multiple-user facilities “designed to serve all genders” and states that single-use toilet facilities should follow the required gender radios of a table that details how many toilets, sinks, bathtubs/showers and drinking fountains should be available in ratios to people residing in a dormitory.
Meanwhile, section 405.3.4 of the International Plumbing Code states that public spaces must provide a separate compartment with walls or a closing door to ensure privacy. Sylvester said that according to the 2024 IBC, Grace Pearson’s GIA and community-style restrooms should meet the standard despite what KU housing stated in last week’s email.
Waters further outlines in the email that residents are expected to “abide by signs and posted regulations, including bathroom use.” The email also instructs those who live in GP to report individuals who violate the housing policy and that housing will also hire staff “to uphold community standards and document policy violations.”
While it has not been stated yet as to what repercussions will happen if a student is reported, the housing department has a sanctions portion of the Housing & Residence Life Handbook that details what happens if a student violates housing policies.
Neither the KU housing department nor Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, a spokesperson for KU, responded to requests for comment or more information before the publication of this article.
Residents of GP made a petition on Feb. 7 to advocate for inclusive living environments. The petition has since gathered more than 500 signatures from scholarship hall residents, on-campus support and more.
Arias said that gaining support from others has encouraged them to connect with KU’s Student Senate and other resources on campus to address their concerns.
“It’s been amazing to see the support so far. We’ve had a lot of friends in the Student Senate, and professors in the humanities department give us their support,” Arias said.
A page on KU’s website that previously displayed locations of all gender-inclusive restrooms on campus is now no longer visible to the public and states that “This content is being reviewed in light of recent changes to federal guidance.” The previous list, which also includes locations of lactation rooms and reflection spaces, is available at this link, archived on Jan. 30.
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Lane Rozin (he/they), a contributor to The Lawrence Times since January 2024, is a student at the University of Kansas Schools of Journalism and Film. He is a graduate of Pittsburg High School, where he was the multimedia editor for Pitt Media in 2019-21. He is currently the managing editor at the University Daily Kansan and development director at KJHK. See more of his work for the Times here.
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