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On Sunday, Feb. 5, the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) Senate convened its first meeting of the new term, discussing aspects of the budget, and reviewed a position paper on gender-neutral bathrooms. During the winter elections, the USG initiated a referendum on the expansion of gender-neutral bathrooms.
The proposal was co-authored by current Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) chair of the USG Senate Uma Fox ’26, who wrote in the ‘Prince’ in December that “Princeton can assert its support for transgender and gender-non-conforming students while creating a campus where all of us can thrive” by investing in gender-neutral residential facilities. Similarly, The Daily Princetonian Editorial Board wrote a column encouraging students to vote “Yes” in support of this referendum.
However, others expressed concerns regarding the gender-neutral bathroom referendum. In an opinion column, Julianna Lee ’25 argued that instead of converting most existing single-sex restrooms to gender-neutral ones “and jeopardizing the safety and comfort of male and female students, I urge the commission to consider options that truly fulfill the goal of making ‘all members of our community feel safe,’ by adding gender-neutral bathrooms without taking away existing single-sex bathrooms.
Ultimately, the referendum passed with 58 percent of the vote. Subsequently, the USG Senate has been planning to publish a position paper suggesting a commission of students and administrators to evaluate the feasibility of converting the majority of residential bathrooms to gender-neutral spaces. Given that USG referenda are not binding to University administration, it remains to be seen what the University's next steps will be.
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Analysis by Amy Ciceu
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