The installment of unisex restrooms on the second floor of the Kanter Student Center have been put on hold due to the recent budget cuts.
“The budget cuts put a hold on a lot of projects,” said Jeff Carstens, vice president and dean of students. “The administration decided that anything that was not already underway or immediately necessary they would hold off on till the new budget gets approved.”
“The problem with a college is it’s hard to say to some people, ‘Oh, you just keep on spending,’ and to others, ‘Oh, you can’t,” Carstens said.
This project started last spring semester when 287 students signed a petition showing their support. In an interview with The Wayne Stater last semester, Carstens said he was hopeful that the bathrooms would be done by the beginning of this semester or sooner.
“I apologize that it isn’t done yet. It is still a priority, and it will still happen,” Carstens said.
The unisex bathrooms in the student center will be installed, although no date has been set as to when they will be done. Carstens says the goal is still to have a unisex bathroom in every building on campus. Bathrooms that are already single user will be easier to make into unisex bathrooms, but those in the student center will require more work and thus will take longer to switch.
“This project isn’t a huge dollar amount, so I don’t anticipate it’s going to be impacted by whatever the ultimate decision is,” Carstens said.