• Home
  • Staff
  • Privacy Policy
  • News Tips/Press Releases
  • Advertising
Wednesday, May 18, 2022
No Result
View All Result
The Times-Delphic
  • News
    • All
    • Administrative News
    • Campus Events
    • Campus Health
    • Caucus Roundup
    • In Des Moines
    • Politics
    • Student Politics
    • Student Senate
    • The Ones

    Indira Sheumaker, city councilmembers find common ground among conflicts

    Drake urges community to remain cautious as reporting of new COVID-19 cases slows

    Drake urges community to remain cautious as reporting of new COVID-19 cases slows

    Drake to build University Center

    Student Senate passes resolution in support of the transgender community

    Drake welcomes first Black woman Student Body President

    Student Body President Morgan Coleman shares experiences as a leader

    • Administrative News
    • The Ones
    • Campus Events
    • Campus Health
    • Caucus Roundup
    • In Des Moines
    • Politics
    • Student Politics
    • Student Senate
    • Senate Elections
  • Sports
    • All
    • Baseball
    • Basketball
    • Column
    • Cross-Country
    • E-Sports
    • Football
    • Golf
    • Rowing
    • Soccer
    • Softball
    • Tennis
    • Track and Field
    • Volleyball

    Promising 2022 NFL Draft for Packers fans

    The two national parks you should visit this summer

    Des Moines lands news USL team and stadium district

    Former Drake Basketball Player Wins National Championship

    The Top Moves of NFL Free Agency

    • Basketball
    • Column
    • Cross-Country
    • E-Sports
    • Football
    • Golf
    • Rowing
    • Soccer
    • Softball
  • Commentary
    • All
    • Horoscope
    • Letter from the Editor
    • Letter to the Editor

    Hip astrology: Relays horoscope

    Painted Street ain’t so sweet when costs are heaped

    Commentary: Top 5 Self Care Tips

    Commentary: Top 5 Self Care Tips

    Commentary: How to meet your next partner in 2022

    Commentary: “Oh… We’re Not Dating…”

    • Horoscope
    • Letter from the Editor
  • Features
    • All
    • Greek Life
    Drake welcomes first Black woman Student Body President

    Student Body President Morgan Coleman shares experiences as a leader

    Painted Street recap

    Bam Bam wins Drake University’s 43rd annual Beautiful Bulldog Contest

    New Casey’s Location on Forest Avenue

    ADA student task force advocates for disability inclusion

    • Greek Life
  • Podcasts
    Drake Weekly Sports Podcast | December 3

    Drake Weekly Sports Podcast | December 3

    Drake Public Safety and the student body

    Drake Public Safety and the student body

    Humans of Drake Podcast

    Bulldog Blitz 1: December 7, 2010

    The Sports Report 2010 7: 11/09/2010

  • Relays Edition

    Bill that would make Iowa a hands-free driving state stalls in the legislature

    New Casey’s Location on Forest Avenue

    ADA student task force advocates for disability inclusion

    Des Moines lands news USL team and stadium district

    The Great Resignation: What Is It? And Why Is It Happening?

    The Great Resignation: What Is It? And Why Is It Happening?

    Hip astrology: Relays horoscope

    State of Sustainability at Drake

    Dean Kathleen Richardson: Leaving a Legacy for the Drake SJMC

    Painted Street ain’t so sweet when costs are heaped

    • Commentary
    • Coronavirus
    • Elections
    • Features
    • In Des Moines
    • News
    • This week in photos
    • Top News
    • Top Stories
    • Uncategorized
    • Video
    • Sports
    • Security Reports
    • Relays Edition
    • Poll
    • Podcasts
    • Online Exclusives
    • Opinion
  • News
    • All
    • Administrative News
    • Campus Events
    • Campus Health
    • Caucus Roundup
    • In Des Moines
    • Politics
    • Student Politics
    • Student Senate
    • The Ones

    Indira Sheumaker, city councilmembers find common ground among conflicts

    Drake urges community to remain cautious as reporting of new COVID-19 cases slows

    Drake urges community to remain cautious as reporting of new COVID-19 cases slows

    Drake to build University Center

    Student Senate passes resolution in support of the transgender community

    Drake welcomes first Black woman Student Body President

    Student Body President Morgan Coleman shares experiences as a leader

    • Administrative News
    • The Ones
    • Campus Events
    • Campus Health
    • Caucus Roundup
    • In Des Moines
    • Politics
    • Student Politics
    • Student Senate
    • Senate Elections
  • Sports
    • All
    • Baseball
    • Basketball
    • Column
    • Cross-Country
    • E-Sports
    • Football
    • Golf
    • Rowing
    • Soccer
    • Softball
    • Tennis
    • Track and Field
    • Volleyball

    Promising 2022 NFL Draft for Packers fans

    The two national parks you should visit this summer

    Des Moines lands news USL team and stadium district

    Former Drake Basketball Player Wins National Championship

    The Top Moves of NFL Free Agency

    • Basketball
    • Column
    • Cross-Country
    • E-Sports
    • Football
    • Golf
    • Rowing
    • Soccer
    • Softball
  • Commentary
    • All
    • Horoscope
    • Letter from the Editor
    • Letter to the Editor

    Hip astrology: Relays horoscope

    Painted Street ain’t so sweet when costs are heaped

    Commentary: Top 5 Self Care Tips

    Commentary: Top 5 Self Care Tips

    Commentary: How to meet your next partner in 2022

    Commentary: “Oh… We’re Not Dating…”

    • Horoscope
    • Letter from the Editor
  • Features
    • All
    • Greek Life
    Drake welcomes first Black woman Student Body President

    Student Body President Morgan Coleman shares experiences as a leader

    Painted Street recap

    Bam Bam wins Drake University’s 43rd annual Beautiful Bulldog Contest

    New Casey’s Location on Forest Avenue

    ADA student task force advocates for disability inclusion

    • Greek Life
  • Podcasts
    Drake Weekly Sports Podcast | December 3

    Drake Weekly Sports Podcast | December 3

    Drake Public Safety and the student body

    Drake Public Safety and the student body

    Humans of Drake Podcast

    Bulldog Blitz 1: December 7, 2010

    The Sports Report 2010 7: 11/09/2010

  • Relays Edition

    Bill that would make Iowa a hands-free driving state stalls in the legislature

    New Casey’s Location on Forest Avenue

    ADA student task force advocates for disability inclusion

    Des Moines lands news USL team and stadium district

    The Great Resignation: What Is It? And Why Is It Happening?

    The Great Resignation: What Is It? And Why Is It Happening?

    Hip astrology: Relays horoscope

    State of Sustainability at Drake

    Dean Kathleen Richardson: Leaving a Legacy for the Drake SJMC

    Painted Street ain’t so sweet when costs are heaped

    • Commentary
    • Coronavirus
    • Elections
    • Features
    • In Des Moines
    • News
    • This week in photos
    • Top News
    • Top Stories
    • Uncategorized
    • Video
    • Sports
    • Security Reports
    • Relays Edition
    • Poll
    • Podcasts
    • Online Exclusives
    • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
The Times-Delphic
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Embracing gender inclusivity

byJessica Lynk
February 18, 2016
in News, Top News
0 0
0

BY JESS LYNK

The door swings open to reveal a single toilet, sink and paper towel holder.

It looks like an ordinary bathroom, but this one is different.

Outside the bathroom is a sign that says “All Gender Restroom.”

This bathroom is a significant milestone in Drake University history because it is the first gender -inclusive bathroom of many to come.

“If you are a trans student, or even if you aren’t, you are going to have a place to use the restroom and that seems like a pretty fundamental thing,” said Tony Tyler, director for student engagement equity and inclusion.

This new restroom effort stemmed from the campus climate survey, released back in February of 2015, in order to make all students feel welcome.

The sign outside the new restroom in Olmsted. PHOTO BY PRANEETH RAJSINGH | PHOTO EDITOR
The sign outside the new restroom in Olmsted. PHOTO BY PRANEETH RAJSINGH | PHOTO EDITOR

“Whenever you have restrooms that are gendered, transgender students can at times feel not safe to use the restrooms there,” Tyler said. “What that results in is that their learning and their living experiences are significantly hindered if they are not able to use the restroom.”

Efforts from multiple student groups, facilities and the Office of Student Inclusion, Involvement and Leadership all helped make this possible.

The bathroom was created by taking off the handicapped stall of the women’s bathroom in Olmsted and putting up a wall. This made room for a handicapped accessible, gender- inclusive bathroom.

This is one of the efforts that Tyler and the office of Student Involvement and Leadership made after deciding last semester to rebrand the Office of Student Involvement following the results of the student climate survey.

“As we looked at the data from that (the survey) and as we listened to the feedback that students were giving us throughout the semester, it became quickly evident that there needed to be response to what the students were saying they wanted and that they needed,” Tyler said.

This feedback led the office to be renamed the Student Inclusion Involvement and Leadership office and led to the creation of the Director for Student Engagement Equity and Inclusion position that Tyler holds now.

For Tyler, this transition has been nothing but positive.

“The vast majority of the bullet points of my job description start with the word advocate, which I love,” Tyler said.

Helping implement the gender-inclusive bathrooms was one of the ways Tyler has started to advocate for students.

Although the rebranding of the office happened recently, the effort to get gender-inclusive bathrooms have been in the works for almost two years, according to Tyler.

Along with Tyler, senior Jordan Mix, the outgoing president of Rainbow Union, also worked to create the bathroom.

“We don’t have a student body that is 100 percent cisgender and that falls within the gender binary,” Mix said. “So it is important for those students that don’t fall within the gender binary, or who don’t identify as cisgender, to have a space where they can comfortably go to the bathroom. I think that it is privilege that a lot of people take for granted.”

The creation of this bathroom was a collaboration between Rainbow Union, OneVoice, SAGE and the social justice living and learning community. These groups worked with facilities in order to make it happen.

They are currently in the works of identifying where there is more room for gender-inclusive bathrooms. According to Tyler, there are a lot of places on campus that already have bathrooms that can be converted to be gender-inclusive.

Eventually there will be a map online that students can access to see where the gender-inclusive bathrooms are.

Some students from all of these groups have been working on what they are calling a “transgender inclusion statement,” according to Tyler. The bathroom only plays into a part of these efforts that Mix and others are trying to implement on campus.

“The bathrooms were not necessarily separate from the rest of the policies at first,” Mix said.“To my knowledge, the whole policy has not been approved by this point, but we had extra funding and Tony runs the Olmsted building and was like ‘We have the space, we have the money, let’s just do it.’”

Some of the changes in the inclusion statement include: having gender-inclusive floors in resident halls, residence assistants having more intense training on gender-inclusive issues and training Public Safety on how to handle hate crimes regarding gender expression and inclusivity.

All of these initiatives would work to make sure all students feel included at Drake.

“We are consistently moving forward in confirming that all students are welcome here at Drake and that all students have a welcoming and supportive learning and living environment — no matter who you are,” Tyler said. “I think, as our awareness is heightening of people in our community who are trans, that we are moving forward and making sure they will be supported.”

Jessica Lynk

Next Post

Father of Trayvon Martin furthers conversation of race

Twitter Feeds

The Times-Delphic
The Times-Delphic @timesdelphic

BREAKING: Drake President Marty Martin announced in a campuswide email that Drake's number of active cases is projected to decline to 80 by the end of the day, down 241 since early Friday afternoon.
View on Twitter
2
10
The Times-Delphic
The Times-Delphic @timesdelphic

We've added an update to this article about the COVID-19 surge on campus. https://t.co/MaXtlQ4w2j
View on Twitter
0
4

Recommended

Sarah Vanlandegen: Adventures in Italy

11 years ago
NFL column: speaking hypothetically

NFL column: speaking hypothetically

3 years ago

Popular News

  • Twitch Streamer Raises Money for LGBT Community

    Twitch Streamer Raises Money for LGBT Community

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Gladwell’s “Outliers” reveals the many factors of success

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Drake ranks among Ivy Leagues on Economist list

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • The history of Indian boarding schools in Iowa

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Music as a political platform

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Drake Weekly Sports Podcast | December 3

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Humans of Drake Podcast

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • The Sports Report 2010 7: 11/09/2010

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Familiar face helps bring massive skatepark to Des Moines

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • The rise and fall of Motown Records

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Connect with us

  • About
  • Home
  • Podcasts
  • Privacy Policy
  • Virtual Edition
  • Advertising

Copyright 2015 Fuel Themes. All RIGHTS RESERVED.

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Administrative News
    • The Ones
    • Campus Events
    • Campus Health
    • Caucus Roundup
    • In Des Moines
    • Politics
    • Student Politics
    • Student Senate
    • Senate Elections
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Column
    • Cross-Country
    • E-Sports
    • Football
    • Golf
    • Rowing
    • Soccer
    • Softball
  • Commentary
    • Horoscope
    • Letter from the Editor
  • Features
    • Greek Life
  • Podcasts
  • Relays Edition
    • Commentary
    • Coronavirus
    • Elections
    • Features
    • In Des Moines
    • News
    • This week in photos
    • Top News
    • Top Stories
    • Uncategorized
    • Video
    • Sports
    • Security Reports
    • Relays Edition
    • Poll
    • Podcasts
    • Online Exclusives
    • Opinion

Copyright 2015 Fuel Themes. All RIGHTS RESERVED.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

Bodybuilder is fighting for his life after taking dirty steroids femara uk trump's "operation warp speed" for mass vaxxing. "big bucks for big pharma" - global research