A recent change in the sign outside of a gender-neutral bathroom on the third floor of the Michigan Union has caused a bit of a public relations headache for the building’s administrators.

Members of the Michigan Student Assembly's LGBT Commission were not happy with the sign change — which replaced a gender neutral bathroom sign featuring a male and a female figure with a family bathroom sign — saying they felt the University failed to notice the need to have a gender-neutral bathroom.

After urging from the Spectrum Center, the family bathroom sign was removed and is set to be replaced by a new bathroom sign that will feature one figure; half male, half female.

LSA junior Christopher Armstrong, co-chair of the LGBT Commission, said he was disappointed with the new family bathroom sign.

“I think that we were just frustrated to see it be labeled as a family restroom, because it sort of made it seem like the building had just forgotten the purpose of why that was to be a gender-neutral bathroom,” he said.

Armstrong explained the purpose of gender-neutral bathrooms is to create “a more inclusive space for a trans individual.”

He said the LGBT Commission is trying to increase transgender awareness by posting signs on unisex bathrooms around campus.

“People don’t recognize what they are and what the purpose of them is, so having that sign there promotes awareness of what gender-neutral bathrooms are, why they might be important to certain people on campus,” he said.

The LGBT Commission would like to see the family bathroom sign changed back to a permanent gender-neutral sign.

“The bathroom is set up as a gender-neutral bathroom,” Armstrong said. “We are just a little hesitant of the fact that the building hasn’t changed the sign quite yet.”

The Spectrum Center, which provides “education, advocacy, and support on issues related to sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, particularly as it affects graduate and undergraduate students,” also noticed the change in the bathroom’s signage.

However, Jacqueline Simpson, director of the Spectrum Center, said she believes the change was merely “an administrative glitch.”

“The Union facilities have always been supportive and are a 110 percent supportive,” she said. “I just really want to make it clear that never was the administration trying to not have a gender-neutral bathroom.”

Susan Pile, director of the Michigan Union and University Unions Arts & Programs, explained how installing the family bathroom sign was simply a mistake during the process of updating all of the Union’s signage.

“The wrong sign went up outside that bathroom. There was never any intent to change the title of that space,” she said. “Since then we had a temporary sign over it that keeps disappearing … finally, what we have done is bolted down the temporary sign.”

Pile said a new, permanent sign has been ordered for the bathroom and should arrive sometime in early December.

Simpson said that the Union facilities got feedback from the Spectrum Center in regards to what the most appropriate sign should be for the gender-neutral bathroom.

According to Simpson, the Spectrum Center chose a sign that said “gender neutral” and has a figure that represents gender neutrality.

“It’s just one stick figure and when it comes down sort of half of the body looks like a skirt and then half of the body looks like it’s a pair of pants,” explained Simpson.

Simpson said the sign is one of many possible ways to properly represent a gender-neutral bathroom.

“There are lots of different ways that a particular identity could be represented,” she said. “This is one way and so we chose that way.”

However, Armstrong said the LGBT Commission does not necessarily support the symbolism of the new sign.

“The sign was a little bit offensive just because it had one person that was half female half male,” he said. “And that was just a little bit insensitive we felt.”