Grand Valley State University’s Student Senate passed resolution F-13-03, which requires more gender-neutral bathrooms on campus, at its Thursday general assembly meeting. The resolution was drafted primarily by Margie Munoz of the Diversity Affairs Committee and was presented to the senate two weeks ago.

All new buildings on campus are already required to have accessible gender-neutral bathrooms, but the resolution asks that the Kirkhof Center add one to every floor and that all current academic buildings have at least one on the premises. The resolution passed with no opposition.

BUS ROUTE EXTENSIONS

Student Senate also passed a resolution to request an extension of The Rapid bus routes to reach more off-campus apartments in Allendale. Currently, the routes only stop at apartments between Lake Michigan Drive and Pierce Street, and Campus Drive and 48th Avenue.

The resolution requests that the bus routes extend westward on Pierce Street and Lake Michigan Drive all the way to 56th Avenue. The new routes would incorporate the 160 Grand Valley State University students who currently live in the Mystic Woods apartment complex. Two new housing developments, Campus Crest and Grand Village, would also be included on the routes. Campus Crest will house up to 600 students, and Grand Village will house 180 to start but is expected to expand. Both new housing developments are expected to open in fall of 2014.

Madelaine Cleghorn, who sponsored the resolution with Matt Bodgen, said a lot of planning went into the creation of the resolution. Senators sent out surveys to identify where the majority of students wanted the bus routes to be. Apartment complexes and businesses in the area were contacted to find out if they would want a bus stop close to their property. After much research, senators found that both students and businesses would benefit from the addition of the new stops on the bus route.

Cleghorn said the resolution is the senate’s attempt to get the ball rolling with the creation of the bus routes.

“We will next semester be bringing it to The Rapid,” she said. Senators tried to get in contact with people working on the “Laker Line” at The Rapid but have received no response as of yet.

‘ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK’

Senators also approved a financial request from Iota Iota Iota for $12,500 to have actress Lavern Cox make a speech at GVSU. Cox is a transgender African American actress on the popular Netflix series, “Orange is the New Black.” The money will be used to pay for her travel to GVSU, her hotel costs and the cost of her time to speak.

The event will take place at GVSU on March 18, with the location yet to be determined. The event will be coordinated by Student Senate’s Diversity Affairs Committee along with other organizations, including Iota Iota Iota, which is the campus organization for students studying Women and Gender Studies.