Letter to the Editor

by Joe Lazauskas

Monday March 24, 2008

Dear Editor,

There is little that is more harmful to a group than to be misrepresented and trivialized by a newspaper which exists to convey facts and accurate information to its readers. We, the members of TransAction, find it necessary to correct the false information presented in the article “Bathroom Gender Controversy” in the December 13, 2007 Phoenix issue and dispel the overall shadow cast on our work. We feel that the newspaper gave an inaccurate reflection of the efforts made by our group to secure gender-neutral bathrooms and we want the student body to understand the true situation.

Last school year, an informal group of five Sarah Lawrence students dedicated extensive amounts of time to generate a proposal which detailed why gender neutral bathrooms were needed, which bathrooms these should be, and how the conversion could be made at a minimum of cost, effort, and inconvenience. It focused primarily on adding signs and locks to previously existing single-use restrooms, selected by TransAction based on location, convenience, and practicality. The proposal received full support and approval from the Committee on Student Life and President Meyers in February and March of 2007 respectively, and should have been implemented over the summer.

The Phoenix covered TransAction’s November 28, 2007 appearance before Student Life, portraying the group, now the official club TransAction, as petulant children complaining about issues and throwing unfounded accusations at the administration, Michael Rengers in particular. This is entirely inaccurate, as TransAction has an excellent working relationship with Rengers, and has consulted with him frequently over the course of the gender neutral bathroom project. Additionally, there was no conflict with the former-President over the original proposal, receiving stipulations that the Library, Science Center, and Sports Center be dealt with later. These were set apart by TransAction from the beginning, to be discussed at greater length after the other changes were made.
The primary topic discussed was the bathroom signs, which the Phoenix article seemed to portray as a trivial matter. The few signs which were put up in early November, eight months after the proposal was passed, were of a different design than was selected by TransAction and Rengers previously and were each mounted on the wall next to their respective bathroom doors. This mounting created significant confusion regarding which door led to a bathroom, and on one of the doors, the word “Women” was still clearly visible after it had been declared gender neutral. Additionally, the new image selected was perceived to be both comical and masculine by the members of TransAction, and was selected for implementation after being presented to one non-chair club member in a casual setting.

The concerns of TransAction are not hypothetical. Last year, Dean Spade, a transgender male, was arrested in Grand Central for using the men’s bathroom. A short YouTube search will bring you coverage on the story of a transgender female who was recently assaulted in a McDonald’s bathroom. For those who might say, “Never at Sarah Lawrence,” we ask you to examine this statement in light of the underlying ignorance and hostility evident in the initial article. It is especially concerning that in an article dealing with transgender issues, the Phoenix used female pronouns to quote an openly transgender male member of TransAction. This reflects an overall lack of awareness on the Sarah Lawrence campus, and highlights the importance of safe places for transgender students to use the bathroom.

“Bathroom Gender Controversy” distorted our objectives and marginalized our objections. It is difficult enough to overcome the miscommunication and red tape of bureaucracy without the newspaper – which should be a vehicle for clarity – muddling the issue further. In the future, we hope the Phoenix will be more judicious in its reporting, and will provide more accurate and balanced information to the student body. We trust our student papers to tell us what is happening on the Sarah Lawrence campus; articles which attack any group unnecessarily, or provide misleading and false information as news, serve only to damage the community as a whole as well as the individuals involved.

Sincerely, TransAction