We, the trans community and our allies, have been told by the University of Kansas (KU), in its own words and its own policies, that it does not discriminate on the basis of gender identity or gender expression. We are asking KU to mean it.

On February 18, 2026, the Kansas Legislature enacted Senate Bill 244 over the Governor's veto. The law restricts access to multi-occupancy restrooms in public buildings according to a person's sex assigned at birth, and it attaches fines and criminal charges to those who do not comply. It passed without the support of the State's chief executive, and it now governs where KU students, staff, and faculty may access a universally basic need during a work day. It does so while segregating a group of people who historically face violence when attempting to use the restroom. In Louisiana, for example, a state that does not have a law that prohibits restroom use based on sex assigned at birth, a trans couple was beaten by 10 assailants and threatened with murder before one of the victims was taken to jail. SB244 aggravates the animosity towards trans people which preempts this kind of violence. KU is a place where this law can be enforced to its fullest extent as a successful public school with a liberal arts college in a town that declared itself to be a safe haven for trans people.

We recognize that the University of Kansas did not write this law and cannot repeal it. However, KU is not without choice. The choices they made are the reason for the enclosed demands.

SB244 only requires the university to designate its restrooms for one sex or another and to look into complaints it receives. It does not require the university to investigate anyone's body or medical history. It does not require the university to issue findings where the facts are unclear, to refer anyone for prosecution, or to discipline the people who work or study here. To pursue every one of these is a decision that KU makes on its own, and every one of them can be unmade.

Nor has the University met the obligations it does have. KU's own guidance directs people to single-occupancy restrooms as a lawful alternative; however, on this campus, single-occupancy restrooms are scarce, scattered across buildings, and in some cases have sat out of service for a year or more while the people who need them were told to comply anyway. An institution cannot direct its community toward a facility it has not provided or maintained.

As the law currently states, Trans people at KU are being asked to choose between a restroom where they face harassment and a restroom where they face a fine and a criminal charge. In reality, this has always been the case despite the law and the law as it is enacted now increases the propensity of violence. Our choice has never been a real choice, and now KU has been made an institutionally ordained catalyst for trans oppression despite promising us repeatedly that it is an ally. As KU distances itself from its own promises, it alienates many of the passionate scholars and workers who make the university what it is. In turn, KU alienates itself from it's own commitments as an institution of learning.

We are not asking the University of Kansas to break the law. We are asking KU to never go further than the law requires. We are asking that KU, despite the constraints imposed upon it, adhere to its own promises to the trans community.

Demands

We, the undersigned community members of KU and citizens of Lawrence KS, demand that:

• The University of Kansas follow the letter of the law and no further. SB244 permits KU to investigate complaints regarding people entering restrooms. SB244 does not require KU to investigate the primary or secondary sexual characteristics of anyone against whom a complaint is made, nor does it require KU to inquire about the history of these sexual characteristics by requesting personal documents or any other means. SB244 does not require KU to issue a finding where the evidence is inconclusive, including where a person's presence in a restroom is explained by the custodial and maintenance exceptions written into the law itself. SB244 does not require KU to refer any person to the Attorney General, a county attorney, or any other authority. SB244 does not require KU to discipline employees or students as a result of complaints, and it certainly does not require discipline where the university has failed to provide a functioning single-occupancy restroom in the building where that person works or studies. Where KU does issue a finding, it must provide the administrative appeal procedure the statute requires. Performing any action beyond what SB244 requires is a choice made by this university, not an obligation imposed on it, and such actions are inconsistent with KU's own Nondiscrimination Statement and with the university's obligations under Title VII under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX under the Education Amendments of 1972, and the Kansas Act Against Discrimination.
• The University publish a single written procedure governing how reports made under SB244 are received and handled, regardless of which office receives them, and designate one office as the owner of that procedure with Human Resources bound by it in matters involving employees and the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX bound by it in matters involving both students and employees. This procedure must specify who may receive such reports and with whom they may be shared. It must prohibit the collection, recording, or investigation of any person's sex assigned at birth, medical history, or transition status. It must require that a reported person be notified promptly, be told the particulars of the report made against them, and be given the opportunity to respond, with a support person of their choosing before any finding is made. It must provide, upon request, an accounting to the reported person of how any personal information about them was obtained and who has accessed it. It must prohibit retaliation of any kind against a person who is reported, who responds to a report, or who assists another person in doing so including discipline, reassignment to another building or position, changes to schedule or duties, denial of promotion, and non-renewal of appointment or contract. A report handled outside of this procedure must not proceed.
• As an act of good faith, the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX create informational sessions where members of the KU community may learn their rights under SB244. This would help incoming students and staff, who often come from out of state, understand the risks associated with entering restrooms in public buildings. No personal information of attendees, including names, addresses, gender, student status, or anything else, may be recorded at these sessions, and there must be no prerequisites to attend these informational sessions or to receive associated informational material.
  The rights of staff and faculty to share their preferred pronouns and discuss matters of gender in their KU email accounts be restored, and that gender identity language be returned to KU web infrastructure. These restrictions reach beyond what any federal or state law requires of this University, and they prevent people, whether their names are gendered ambiguously or not, from identifying themselves in the ordinary course of their work. We ask KU to restore these rights to the fullest extent within its authority, and where the university believes it is constrained by directives from the Kansas Board of Regents, to say so publicly and to seek relief from those directives on our behalf.

Within two years of the release of this petition, we, the undersigned community members of KU and citizens of Lawrence KS, demand:

• The creation of one single-occupancy restroom per three floors of every building on campus that houses faculty, staff, or students for any function; be it entertainment, research, office work, education, or any other, with a minimum of one single-occupancy restroom per building. These restrooms must be functioning, accessible, and maintained in service; a restroom that is closed for construction, locked, or otherwise unavailable does not satisfy this demand. Where a building does not currently meet this standard, KU must publish the date by which it will, and the interim arrangement available to that building's occupants in the meantime.

Finally, we, the undersigned community members of KU and citizens of Lawrence KS demand that:

• A KU committee, composed of staff with the authority to act on the demands above, be formed to meet with the organizers of this petition (Trans Solidarity KU) at least once every six months to report on progress towards fulfilling these demands. These meetings may also be used to resolve problems related to, or to coordinate work toward, the completion of the above demands.

We ask for a written response from the Office of the Chancellor no later than Monday September 28, 2026.

If you would like to get involved with Trans Solidarity KU, please contact the organizers at transsolidarityku@proton.me.