THE COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW ORLEANS Volume: 60 Issue: 8
OCTOBER 26, 2016
unodriftwood.com
UNIVERSITY IMPLEMENTS ALL-GENDER RESTROOMS BY JAMIE LLOYD Driftwood Staff The University of New Orleans is an educational institution nationally-acclaimed and celebrated for its diversity, as well as its commitment to preserving said diversity between all ethnic groups, religious groups, creeds, and gender identities. In the spirit of this camaraderie, UNO has recently implemented the installation of gender-neutral restrooms around campus. The UNO Diversity Cabinet and Unity (the university’s LGBT-plus organization) have spearheaded this change, teaming up with other members of faculty and staff to create a cohesive and cooperative environment that fosters understanding. Anna Gowin, president of Unity, said the university was inspired to implement this gender-neutral bathroom policy as an effort to recognize all gender identities, as seen on a national scale. “There’s been a national push towards eliminating gendered restrooms, especially on campuses and in public spaces. That, combined with a push from Unity and the Diversity Cabinet really showed the university that gender-neutral restrooms are a welcome change at UNO.”
The gender-neutral restrooms are not solely designated for the use of university students. Gowin believes that their presence can serve a broader scope of individuals, explaining that these gender-neutral restrooms “are for everyone. Faculty, students, even visitors to campus. While transgender and non-binary students will obviously benefit a lot from the addition of the bathrooms, they’re not the only ones. Single parents, for instance, and other members of the incredibly diverse student body at UNO.” Eight gender-neutral restrooms will be introduced to the campus— specifically four additions to the International Center, one addition on the first floor of the library, and three in the Education building (one on each floor). While eight restrooms may not seem like much now, it is a step towards including all gender identities and needs on campus, making them a valuable asset to university life and student well-being. While the gender-neutral restrooms are certainly new additions to campus, the actual facilities themselves are not new at all, so the transition from single-user to gender-neutral restrooms is made much easier. “All of the bathrooms are single user restrooms that have always existed, but were previously gen-
Peggy Gaffney, left, director of diversity affairs and assistant dean in the College of Business Administration, and Christy Heaton, director of orientation and programs, discuss the new gender neutral bathrooms. Photo courtesy of UNO
der-divided. The only change that had to be made to designate them as gender-neutral was a change in the sign.” The change will only affect a few restrooms currently, but Gowin hopes in the near future that more will be prevalent on campus. “In a perfect world, I would love to see all the bathrooms on campus be gender-neutral,” said Gowin.
“But realistically, I think it would be great to have a gender-neutral bathroom in every building on campus.” Gowin also shed light on what the university can further expect down the road in terms of fostering a more gender-neutral and inclusive environment. “The executive board has talked in the past about how much we would love to see
gender-neutral housing initiatives through the dorms and Privateer Place. We’re hoping the success of the restrooms will open the door for that to become a reality. We’d also love to see the process become easier for trans and non-binary students to change their preferred name and pronouns through platforms like Moodle and Webstar.”
Anime Genshiken Club holds annual forest Halloween event
UNO Anime Genshiken Club members dress-up for their Halloween event, “Test of Courage,” in the forest next to Privateer Place. Photo by Brennan Probst
BY ROXANNE ARDEKANI Driftwood Contributor This year the University of New Orleans’ Anime Genshiken Club put on their third-annual Halloween event in the forest next to Privateer Place, where students take the “Test of Courage,” a Japanese form of a haunted house where people, usually teenagers,
are paired together and must walk through a terrifying path to prove their bravery. Raphael Mariano, advisor to the club, said, “This event has grown so much from the first time we did it…it’s a lot safer and we have a flow of what to expect working in the forest.” Gabrielle Richard, the club’s president, spearheaded the event.
He said his primary goal was to have something Halloween themed, and the forest was one of the only places on campus he thought was appropriate for a scary Halloween affair. The club’s haunted forest won “Event of the Year” at the Leadership Recognition Ceremony last year. Bren LeMaire and Rachel Geisz, co-head and co-chair of the club, chose the theme of this year’s haunted house: “Japanese Horror,” with inspiration from the Japanese Suicide Forest and the Island of the Dolls. A decrypted old woman, the hag, played by Raphael Mariano, and a funeral woman, played by Bren Lemaitre, dressed in black kimonos and greeted the guests with questions about their coffins. The guests then chose a lantern or a flashlight and were guided toward the entrance of a dark forest and sent off for the Test of Courage. Contemporary Japanese myths begin to unfold as the walk through the ominous forest goes on. Kuchi-
sake-onna, played by Rachel Geisz, is prominent in the forest and asks if she is pretty before pulling her surgical mask down and revealing a slit along her lips. The myth says that if someone answers “yes,” she will cut his or her face like hers; if they say “no,” they are dragged to hell. According to Japanese folklore, if she is thrown candy or answered “you’re average,” she gets confused and leaves. A nopperabo (a faceless man), appears when the entrance is finally seen, and a teke teke (a half-bodied woman), begins to crawl and chase people out. The Japanese myth about a teke teke involves a woman who was run over by a train and half of her body was cut off. She is in an endless search for the bottom half off her body. Mariano said, “Money is always a factor. This is a haunted house. We’re not trying to compete with the House of Shock or the haunted houses locally, we’re trying to do something of our own on campus.” LeMaire said, “As co-head and
treasurer, I can tell you that it was a bit pricey. We had a fundraiser and we used most of the money from it and a little bit of club funds. We also used donations.” Kimonos and the straw hat that were worn by the hag and the funeral woman were handmade by Bren Lemaire. Richard donated the porcelain dolls for decoration, and Geisz donated donated the flashlights that were being used for the haunted house. Many local Japanese-enthusiast stores allowed the club to put up flyers for the haunted house, such as Delgado, Kawaii Nola, +1 Gaming, Crescent City Comics, and Go 4 Games. Richard said, “Our stuff is so open to the public. We like to make people all over the city know about it. This is a haunted forest and it is Halloween season, so we want other people to know about it, not just UNO.”