Iowa State’s Lied Recreation Center will have a Gender Neutral bathroom option for its students.

After two years of work from United Resident Off-Campus Senator Kit Clayburn, sophomore in animal ecology, a gender neutral bathroom will be funded by Student Government. The bill passed with a unanimous decision.

Clayburn, a member of the LGBTQIA community, said the bill means a lot more than just financing a bathroom at Lied Recreation Center.

“This bill means a lot to me,” Clayburn said. “I have struggled with my gender identity over the last year, and providing a bathroom in a recreation building will help people like me. I was put on the Diversity and Inclusion Committee to make this university more inclusive, and I am confident that this bathroom bill is a giant step in the right direction.”

Passing the bill means that the Student Government will provide $32,717 for the construction of the bathroom and proper menstrual hygiene dispensers.

A lengthy discussion took place regarding the financial contract with the Student Government and the Iowa State Daily. A bill was presented that would start a period of notice toward terminating the current contract in order to facilitate re-negotiations.

The main debate that took place between members of the Senate was not about the need of the Daily’s services, but was instead centered around how the funding of the Student Government can be used more efficiently due to budget constraints.

In order for the bill to pass, it would have required a two-thirds majority. The Senate did not pass the order with an 8-23-0 decision.

A resolution condemning the power plant on campus for transitioning to natural gas was also reviewed by the Student Government. It was also popular in open forum at the beginning of the meeting, as multiple engineering students shared their views on the issue.

After another lengthy discussion, the Senate passed the resolution by a score of 28-4-0. Along with condemning the power plant, the resolution will also relocate some funding that was previously going to the power plant to a third party who will analyze Iowa State’s renewable energy.

Another funding bill was on the docket, this time regarding the 2023-2024 calendar year and the changes that would involve the Analysis of Social Services Evaluation Team (ASSET). ASSET funds human services programs and volunteer-led efforts to coordinate local planning. The bill passed unanimously.

The restructuring of organizations and their funding was also discussed by the Senate. The organizations involved are Sports Club Council. The order is following the advice from the university’s administration. The bill was passed unanimously.

There were three bills involving revisions to different sections and chapters in the Senate Bylaws. The first bill involved multiple changes to section three. It passed unanimously.

The second rule of order change bill was clarifying the language within section two. The Senate also decided to pass this bill unanimously.

The last revision bill dealt with chapter nine. It was passed by the Senate with a 29-0-3 decision.

The meeting was busy tonight with lots of new legislation being discussed by the Student Government. The meeting nearly took up its entire allotted time of four hours, and finished with Senators saying their goodbyes to the organization in their closing announcements.

Jacob Ludwig, a senior double majoring in economics and political science, and Jaden Ahlrichs, a senior in global resource systems, will be sworn in next week as the new president and vice-president of the Student Government. They will officially be in charge of the next meeting.

The Student Government Senate meets at 6 p.m. Wednesdays in the Campanile Room at the Memorial Union. The next meeting will be April 13.