By Vivian Medithi
On July 6, University of Iowa added personal pronouns as a category in student records, following in the lead of various other institutions to be more inclusive of transgender and nonbinary students [Iowa City Press Citizen]. In step with this, on July 9 the UI announced plans to make 147 single-stall restrooms on campus gender-inclusive [KWWL.com].
These updates comes three years after university was the first public university and second nationally to have “transgender” as an official gender option, as well as asking students if they identified with the LGBTQIA+ community (Huffington Post). The UI has been a leader on LGBT issues in many respects, unsurprising for the state that was one of the first to legalize same-sex marriage. But like the state that supports it, the University of Iowa still has a long way to go.
Iowa is still a conservative state, in which two different churches recently sued the Iowa Civil Rights Commission over a provision that requires churches performing public services (for example, running a daycare) to adhere to the same nondiscrimination standards as non-religious businesses [dailysignal.com]. While this is being framed as a First Amendment issue, the provision that spurred both lawsuits was specifically about allowing transgender individuals to use the restroom of their choice. And much like the state itself, UI has been big on symbolic gestures but fallen short of meaningful change.
All of the changes enumerated above are simplistic, symbolic changes, and additions of options to an application that is consistently reviewed, changing the sign on fewer than 15 precent of the restrooms on campus, all of which, as single-user bathrooms, which were functionally gender-inclusive. The effort of UI Trans Alliance, activists, and other volunteers to make these changes happen is not meaningless, and these changes are needed. Any progress is good progress. But when the status quo is marginalization, small steps are not enough, cannot be treated as political favors to appease a constituency without having to put work in.
The LGBTQIA+ house, as with every other multicultural house on campus, has spent years asking for more funding from the university, only to find that there’s enough money for other things this year but not for us. The UI loves to cite its diversity statistics on admissions pamphlets, but the diversity quota it works so hard to recruit receives little on-campus support.
Last week, students received an email from Chief Diversity Officer Georgina Dodge listing resources for students after “recent national events … highlighted the hate and violence present in our society.” While the gesture was nice, the unwillingness of the university to name Philando Castle or Alton Sterling, or to affirm Black Lives Matter, as Google, Pandora, and a swarm of other businesses and institutions have done, is troubling. It suggests that the UI is only committed to equality when it conveniences officials, not when it is necessary. The purpose of progress should not lie in its ability to be displayed to the public, because when the intention to truly create a more inclusive environment does not require laudatory recognition. These changes are certainly an improvement, but if the UI truly is a place for all students, then it needs to step up to the plate and work for real change, not just good press. Doing right by the students, all of the students, should not be treated as a sacrifice or a commendable service. It’s just what should be done.