On Friday, March 22, Residential Life Coordinator Kheldhe Bourque sent out an email to Clark Hall second-floor residents concerning reports from custodial staff regarding the condition of the bathroom.
The email included information about “Custodial staff constantly finding toilets clogged by waste, menstruation products, and excessive toilet paper usage. One of the more concerning finds was that one of the shower stalls had feces in it which had been cleaned and sanitized.”
When asked about thoughts of the email, Clark second floor resident Deren Sozer said, “I was a little surprised about the extent of the mess that was being described. I think I exclaimed out loud when I read the word feces.”
The second floor in Clark is not the only bathroom that is having problems with people who don’t tidy up after themselves.
One anonymous resident who lives on the fourth floor mentioned that they have seen unflushed toilets, vomit on the walls and toilet, human ejaculates with pubic hair on toilet seats, and shavings left on sinks.
Clark Hall is not the only dorm hall with residents not cleaning the bathroom.
A Pine Hall resident said, “I’ve seen people leaving pee on the rim of the toilet, blood on the toilet and/or floor, the sinks always having puddles of water all around them, trash in the sink or on the counter, personal products on the counter, hair in the sink, hair in the showers, people not flushing. Like people on my floor do not flush half the time. I have gone into the bathroom and none of the toilets were flushed. It’s nasty.”
Meadows East Hall resident Gracie Healey said, “My largest issues have been facial hair clippings left all over the sink, splat toothpaste on the sinks and mirror, and bodily fluids on the toilet seats. It’s just really gross honestly and really inconsiderate. Cleaning those things up should be common sense, and is also just the bare minimum of respect in a shared bathroom space. I genuinely wonder how some people act at home to make them leave things such as this in a public area.”
The restroom cleanliness issues do not seem related to the regularity of custodial cleaning practices. When asked how often residential hall’s bathrooms are cleaned, Bourque said that it was a daily occurrence.
A different Clark resident said, “People don’t flush or vomit all over the stall, and poor [cleaning staff member] has to clean it. The cleaning staff isn’t the problem, it’s other students.”
If students want cleaner restrooms, they must realize that bathroom upkeep is a shared responsibility. “Every student is responsible for their own cleanliness and hygiene and the responsibility to keep the buildings clean is not solely the job of custodial staff but the students as well” said Bourque .
Update:
Posters were placed up in Clark 2nd Hall’s bathroom on Monday, April 1, to combat the unhygienic bathroom conditions after a menstruation pad was found clogged in the toilet.
One of the poster’s contained an alien trying to clean up a toilet with green splat stains on it and a message stating, “If you sprinkle when you tinkle please wipe the seat.”
The second poster contained what not to do with menstrual products and where to put them. The message stated “Please do not throw menstrual products down the toilet! You can either wrap it in paper and throw it in the garbage or put it in the bin next to the toilet paper. Thank You!”
Two weeks ago Residential Life Coordinator Kheldhe Bourque sent out an email to Clark Hall second floor residents regarding information about the unsanitary conditions of the bathroom. It seems that residents of Clark second are still having a hard time understanding how to keep the bathroom sanitary.
When emailed about potential new Residential Life policies regarding this issue, Tim Jordan, Assistant Dean of Residential Life, said, “We already have policies in place (see the lewd conduct policy) to address inappropriate conduct in the bathrooms, and are actively investigating some of the more concerning issues that have come up in regards to the Clark Restrooms. The challenge we often face with bathrooms is that the actions occur without any witnesses, and although we have anonymous reporting options on campus such as the livesafe app we have not received any information to follow up on yet. This is less of a policy issue and more of an enforcement issue at the moment.”
The Lewd Conduct Policy is in Section V of Wheaton’s Community Standards, which highlights a list of behaviors intended to represent the types of acts that count as infringements of the standards.
The Lewd Conduct Policy states: “Any conduct that is lewd, indecent, or disorderly, including but not limited to public urination, public defecation, streaking, stripping, solicitation of a stripper, and/or participation in acts of a sexual nature publicly or in the presence of others that do not meet established harassment thresholds under the Sexual and Gender-based Misconduct Policies.”
Meghan Lambert, President of SGA, was asked if she had any plans to work towards creating cleaner bathrooms. “My committee, student life and services, received lots of concerns about this issue. We actually just worked with Facilities and added spray bottles of cleaner to every academic building bathroom on campus. This is the first and easiest step we took in addressing this issue,” Lambert said.