And lactation stations. Were you aware that you have a “right” to these things? It’s news to me.

Colleen Flaherty of Inside Higher Ed reports.

Right to Gender-Neutral Spaces

In what advocates are calling an extremely significant development in the fight for gender-neutral restrooms on college campuses, graduate student workers across the University of California System say they’ve reached a tentative contract agreement on language that establishes access to such facilities as a “right.”

The workers also reached a similar agreement on language regarding access to lactation stations. Because graduate student workers can be found throughout the university system, the agreement would effectively provide access to such facilities for other students, faculty members and employees, not just graduate students.

Students across the U.S. have fought for such access for years, although policies governing lactation stations are more established than those for gender-neutral bathrooms, given federal oversight of the rights of nursing mothers in the workplace. Graduate students involved in negotiations at the University of California say they want to promote the idea that such access can be achieved through collective bargaining, along with pay raises and other more traditional matters in contract negotiations.