What we imagine the Barnard bathrooms look like

Apparently, potty-training should be the tenth way of knowing.

Barnard quad third floor residents received an email from the Associate Director for Residential Life detailing the closing of the 3rd floor Hewitt bathroom until April 5.

The email detailed the issues with this bathroom, including “feces smeared on toilet seats and the floor, urine on the floor, clogged and overflowing toilets, paper towels clogging the sinks, and garbage strewn around the bathroom,” which is fucking disgusting. In case some people just doesn’t know how to use the bathroom, the email also includes a guide to “proper use of our restroom facilities.”

According to the email, residential staff believe that “the responsible individual(s) may need the resources and support of the counseling center.” Bwog doesn’t want to think too much about how much damage would have to be done for this kind of email, but hopes that whoever it is gets the support they need and that everyone else remembers to clean up after themselves.

Here’s the email, with the most important parts bolded:

Dear Quad Third Floor Residents (including each member from Brooks, Reid, Sulzberger, and Hewitt):

It is with great disappointment that I write to you.

As some of you may know, we have been experiencing many issues with the 3rd Floor Hewitt Bathroom. These have included vandalism, improper behavior, and a complete lack of respect. Over the past few months, we have seen feces smeared on toilet seats and the floor, urine on the floor, clogged and overflowing toilets, paper towels clogging the sinks, and garbage strewn around the bathroom. This only lists some of the inappropriate behavior we have seen.

Alex Schoeneck, the RA for Hewitt 3, Hewitt’s Graduate Hall Director, Omar Miranda, and I have been brainstorming ways to address this behavior. Alex has been communicating frequently with her residents to ask for information and request for the behavior to stop; Alex and Omar have held a mandatory floor meeting for Hewitt 3 residents, and posters have been placed in the restroom requesting for this behavior to cease. In addition, we have been working with staff from Facilities and Furman, believing that the responsible individual(s) may need the resources and support of the counseling center based on what we have witnessed in this bathroom. Unfortunately, even as we are getting back from Spring Break and trying to focus on wrapping up the semester, this egregious behavior has continued.

Although multiple attempts to address this behavior have been implemented, the behavior continues. As a result, we will be closing the Hewitt 3 restroom starting today, and it will remain locked until Friday, April 5, 2013. Upon reopening the bathroom, should this disrespectful behavior persist, we will close the bathroom for a longer period of time.

To be clear, I would like to state what proper use of our restroom facilities should look like. Proper usage should include proper and complete flushing of the toilets, wiping down toilet seat should you soil it, disposing of all paper towels in the garbage bins, picking up and disposing any items that may have fallen to the floor, etc.

This action is clearly not something that we enjoy doing. We realize that this impacts everyone who lives on the 3rd floor, as now your bathrooms will be occupied more frequently by additional residents. I encourage you to speak to Omar Miranda, the Graduate Hall Director of Hewitt and Sulzberger Tower, and share any information that may help us understand who is behind these actions. Our hope is to provide support and assistance to the individual(s) responsible for this behavior; we cannot do that unless we know who this is. You can email Omar at omiranda@barnard.edu or stop by his posted office hours in his office on the 2nd floor of Hewitt.

Many thanks.

Lap of luxury via Wikimedia Commons