U. changes women’s bathroom codes after publication through GirlCode app
Jessica LiCodes needed to access women’s bathrooms around campus began to be changed on Monday for security reasons, according to University spokesperson Martin Mbugua. Residential college advisers will inform female students of the new codes over the next few days. Mbugua explained that the decision was made after restroom codes were made public, which he said compromised student security. The publicly available mobile application GirlCode, launched on iTunes by three University students, made the women’sbathroom codes on campus accessible to anyone. “The safety of our students is our top priority, so University administrators, including the Department of Public Safety and Housing [and Real Estate Services], discussed the issue and decided to change the code,” Mbugua said. The app was taken down earlier in January after a meeting between administrators and the developers, Victor Zhou ’18, Amanda Shi ’18 and Monica Shi ’18. Despite ongoing discussions involving administrators and the Undergraduate Student Government about what should be done with the bathroom codes going forward, Mbugua said the University’s immediate priority was to change the restroom codes that were made public through the app.
