Office of the Assemblies

Dear Jung,

Thank you for conveying to me Resolution 33: Increasing Access to Gender Neutral Bathrooms on Campus. I understand the value of gender neutral and single occupancy bathrooms in creative an inclusive community at Cornell and I look forward to the steps we can take to incorporate more of these facilities into our buildings.

As Cornell renovates existing buildings and constructs new ones, we do consider needs for single occupant restrooms and incorporate them where feasible. Please know that the conversion of existing bathrooms to gender-neutral is not quick or inexpensive, except in the cases where the existing bathroom already is for a single occupant. There are building codes and requirements that make these conversions more complicated than a simple change of signage.

To gain a better understanding of our challenges and limitations on this subject, I recommend the sponsors of the resolution reach out to Ben Kuo, associate vice president of facilities management, to discuss this further.

Thank you for your recommendations.

Sincerely,

Martha Pollack

Martha E. Pollack

President, Cornell University

300 Day Hall

Ithaca, NY 14853

(607) 255-5201