The Bell Memorial Union is undergoing several major renovations. The second floor of the bookstore is the to be first renovated. In attempts to replicate a more modern style, the plan is to create an open office space work environment.

Associated Students programs including Freshman Leadership Opportunities, Union Label and the Wildcat Leadership Institute are occupying the space and visionaries of the renovations are excited to see how the dynamic will play out. I look forward to this innovative layout, and foresee it as becoming a thriving hot spot in the BMU.

The second renovation is a bathroom overhaul. The basement and second floor bathrooms are being renovated into three separate gender-inclusive bathrooms. What is this going to look like? Are we keeping the men’s and woman’s bathroom, and then adding an additional gender-inclusive bathroom? I suppose we will find out fall 2014.

I think these renovations are a step into the future. It’s a movement toward open communications between organizations, allowing a conversation between clubs and leading to more collaboration.

The bathrooms are a subtle monument to the fall of gender norms happening in todays society. It silently forces students to acknowledge that gender and sexuality are two separate things, and the world is more diverse than he and she.

Amanda Irons can be reached at [email protected].