With such horrible conditions in the women’s restrooms including up to one inch of water on floors at times, no toilet paper in the stalls and scratched-up mirrors, the question is, “Who is responsible?” Careless female students, custodians neglecting their duties, or the lack of funds enabling campus maintenance?
Health concerns arise and just to see the football field in better condition than one of the most likely visited places during school hours is appalling to everyone who notices. This issue needs eyes to focus on it so the sanitary conditions of our campus can be as excellent as our transfer rate.
Careless students leave trash everywhere, not bothering to aim for the trash bin. As big as it is, how can anyone miss it? There aren’t any second thoughts about why students avoid restrooms altogether.
On rainy days, students can easily slip and fall and get hurt. One of these days there will be news about how neglectful actions caused a fall in this area, and lawsuits will be flying. More focus needs to be on the potential hazards associated with these conditions. The restrooms have mostly been in the same condition since Pierce College was built, in 1947, give or take a few paint jobs.
On the first day of classes, the women’s restroom in the business building didn’t have paper towels, leaving the possibilities of either not enough supplies or straight out stolen supplies.
Each day at 4:30 a.m., 30 custodians service all 132 restrooms on campus, then again at 8:30 p.m. Within these two rounds, supplies are stocked.
Most of the toilet paper theft, which is hard to comprehend (toilet paper being stolen?) is attributed to a universal key for the dispensers. It’s an easy target, and students are left without that important necessity. Many reports of supply theft have been filed and aren’t anything new to custodians.
We addressed most of these issues last semester, and since it continues, we feel more could be done. Plant facilities personnel say they have sufficient funds for custodians and supplies; however, they feel the conditions in the restrooms are attributed to student misconduct and negligence.
We agree.
We are accustomed to seeing defaced property everywhere- graffiti on buildings, billboards, shopping carts and now we see it here in the restrooms. Thick Sharpie strokes grace the inner stall doors with such phrases as “Blaze + Nikki,” “4:20 2005.” Vandalism is reported to sheriffs, yet it seems to us, it ends there.
Somewhere along the lines, students lost respect for Pierce and authorities. Although we rarely see graffiti, due to custodians quickly covering it up with a fresh coat of paint, it doesn’t resolve the problem.
Bright red checklists will soon be put on the back of entrance doors to each restroom. If restrooms weren’t serviced, students can call the plant facilities number, located on the bottom of the page.
We need to see these problems diminishing. It would make our campus more welcoming to students. We will continue to display our thoughts about any issues going on in our campus; let’s all do our part and keep it clean.