When Robin Peckham first began attending Brown University, the bathrooms in his dormitory made him uncomfortable. But it wasn't the messy sinks or soap scum that made Peckham ill at ease; it was the signs on the door.

Peckham, a 19-year-old sophomore, does not identify as male or female. So when he, who also goes by "she" and "it," had to decide whether to use a female-only or male-only bathroom, the choice was not easy.

"When I used men's bathrooms, I felt awkward wearing skirts or sitting down to pee or shaving my legs. When I used women's bathrooms, I felt awkward shaving my face or wearing boxers," Peckham said in an e-mail.

"I also hated switching back and forth for different activities because I didn't want people to think I was some weirdo," he said.

Some students, including Peckham, have experienced verbal and physical harassment while using gender-specific bathrooms because of their gender identity and expression, which do not involve sexual orientation.

For students who feel uncomfortable or unsafe using traditional restrooms, universities across the country are implementing gender-neutral bathrooms, bathrooms that are not designated as male or female, in academic buildings and dormitories. On many campuses, these actions are met with praise. But some groups, mostly conservative, are condemning the trend.

Most universities that changed bathrooms from gender-specific to gender-neutral did so by simply switching restroom signs, making the cost of converting the bathrooms minimal. This summer Brown University converted 12 restrooms, including single-use and multiuse bathrooms, to gender-neutral by switching signs.

These changes are partly the result of advocacy from students in the university's Queer Alliance, a group that helps promote transgender and gay rights on campus. Along with various subgroups, the alliance has been insisting on having gender-neutral bathrooms for years.

Despite changes, members hope to help implement more of the bathrooms at Brown.

"I think we're seeing more transgender students and more students who don't identify in traditional gender-binary ways," says Margaret Klawunn, associate vice president for campus life at Brown. "We want our students to feel comfortable. (Gender-neutral bathrooms) are a good way to help meet those needs."

Brown is not alone. Fifty-four percent of the country's top 25 universities have gender-neutral bathrooms, says a study by the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition (GenderPAC) released this August. The goal of GenderPAC is to ensure that schools, workplaces and communities are suitable places for those who do not meet expectations for masculinity and femininity to succeed.

According to the study, both private institutions, like Princeton and Harvard, and public schools, like the University of Virginia and University California, Berkeley provide gender-neutral restroom facilities. More than 140 campuses have made the change.

In 2005, officials at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania decided all buildings on campus should have at least one gender-neutral bathroom, preferably single-occupancy. By converting signs on handicapped bathrooms, they achieved their goal.

"Here at Swarthmore we're very much concerned about social justice and social equality. Every member of our community is valuable and should be respected," said Sharmaine LaMar, the college's equal opportunity officer. "Any institution that has similar values would want to recognize all members of its community."

At Brown, members of RUQUS, a subgroup of the Queer Alliance, demonstrated against gender-specific bathrooms last year by designating entrances to an on-campus dining hall as male or female. Dressed in drag, students directed those entering the dining hall through the "appropriate" entrance and verbally harassed those who went through the "wrong" door.

According to Peckham, who participated in the protest, the demonstration, along with editorials in the university's student newspaper, generated conversation on campus and drew the attention of university administrators.

Prior to implementing gender-neutral restrooms at Brown, officials surveyed students this past spring and determined most were comfortable with the change. A more recent survey this semester showed 46 percent of Brown's student body was in favor of gender-neutral bathrooms, Klawuun said.

"We're balancing multiple needs. Our (Queer Alliance) students were saying we want more gender-neutral restrooms. But we wanted to make sure other students felt comfortable with these changes as well," Klawunn said.

The growing trend has received applause from those advocating for transgender rights and criticism from some evangelical groups.

David Kotter, executive director of the Council of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, a group that helps the church deal biblically with gender issues, says the council is concerned with the growing number of college campuses implementing gender-neutral restrooms.

"We were concerned because we have a biblical understanding that God created human beings in his image, male and female," Kotter said. "It is something that we are created with, not something we get to choose or we get to discover."

The position of the council is that men and women are created equal in the eyes of God, but have different, complimentary roles. For men, this means loving headship of a family. For women, it's joyful and intelligent submission.

"I think that gender-neutral bathrooms and gender-neutral dorm rooms that appear on college campuses can actually be more confusing for young men who should be learning what a good man should be like and women who should be learning what a good woman should be like," Kotter said.

"We're not picketing gender-neutral bathrooms. We're educating people. So that men and women in their hearts know there is a distinction in roles," he said.

Katie Lamb, a 19-year-old sophomore at Brown and advocacy chair of the Queer Alliance, says the goal of the alliance is not to convert all bathrooms to gender-neutral, but rather every third or fourth bathroom.

"Everyone's lifestyle should be taken into consideration," Lamb said. "I think that if it's an easy change to be made, (one) that makes people more comfortable, than it should be done."

In addition to implementing gender-neutral restrooms, colleges looking to make students who don't identify as male or female more comfortable are also changing official forms by adding an additional category to the options of male and female.

Some universities, including Brown, also allow students of any gender to live together in certain on-campus housing buildings.

"I want more people to feel safe and comfortable," Peckham said. "I want there to be more options for everyone. Mostly I don't want anyone's existence to be elided."