On November 16, 2022, Princeton’s Undergraduate Student Government (USG) approved a referendum that seeks to convert the majority of residential campus restrooms to be gender-neutral. The referendum argues that this move will make residential campus restrooms more “safe, more accessible for all students, and affirmative of the rights of transgender and gender non-conforming students on the Princeton campus.”
Uma Fox ’26, the referendum’s sponsor, asserts that the nationwide legal and political threats against transgender and gender non-conforming students’ rights necessitate this referendum. In a statement to the Tory, Fox argued that “by establishing the Commission for the Development of Gender-Neutral Residential Facilities, Princeton can tangibly consider how to make its facilities inclusive and accessible to all students.”
In the gender-neutral bathrooms in Princeton’s Yeh and New College West residential colleges, both genders share a washroom sink, but toilet and shower stalls are individualized with locked doors. The referendum argues that these newly constructed gender-neutral bathrooms prove the viability of installing them widely in other colleges.
The referendum makes no mention of the possible cost of the transition. According to the latest freshman survey conducted by The Daily Princetonian, 1.4% of the class of 2026 identified as transgender and 3.4% identified as genderqueer or non-binary.
The discussion among USG Senators was largely favorable toward the referendum’s adoption. When the vote was tallied, approval was near-unanimous, with all Senators voting in favor, and only USG Treasurer Adam Hoffman ’23 voting against.
Having exceeded the one-third approval required by the USG Senate, the question will now move to a full student-body vote as a Senate-initiated referendum.
The question posed to the student body will be: “Shall the undergraduates call on the Office of the Provost to, in a timely manner, establish a commission to investigate and provide recommendations on how the University may convert the majority of residential campus restrooms to be gender-neutral?”
This vote will take place during the first semester’s voting period, which begins on December 5 at noon.
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