Letters
Welcome to the real world, Chicago.

Slow change on bathroom front
The description of gender-neutral bathrooms as a possibility in Regenstein Library and Cobb Hall (“Birdwatching,” February/04) made me realize how glacial change is.

During the hard-fought battle to bring women into the constitution as fully equal citizens, the issue of “potty parity” was often mentioned and more often whispered about as a dire consequence of the Equal Rights Amendment.

I wondered then as now what the naysayers do when they are on an airplane where bathrooms are shared by all passengers without regard to gender. The indicator on the door indicating whether the space is occupied or available to the next person seems to work well, is economically efficient, and is all that is needed. Special door labels that require gender selection could confuse a student and delay implementation of the task.

Mary Peterson Hartzler, AB’50
Alexandria, Virginia

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