If you are ever looking for a little bit of entertainment, or just somewhere to relax on campus, might we recommend that you visit one of the numerous complimentary smoking parlors we have available at your leisure around school. Although you may be momentarily interrupted by students attempting to use the restroom, you can still spend some time away from the stress of the school day.

On a more serious note, the school bathrooms are in atrocious shape. The place meant for students to take care of their business and be on their way is now the prime hangout spot for hooligans and delinquents alike. Away from the watchful eyes of school staff, students take advantage of the respite provided by the bathrooms.

A student who wished to remain anonymous said, “I completely avoid the bathrooms at school. There were a few times in my freshman and sophomore years where kids would do stuff to bother me while I was just trying to go to the bathroom. Ever since then, I only use the bathroom when I absolutely have to.” A large number of students share that sentiment, with many of them having wild and outlandish bathroom stories to share – and more than a few being too inappropriate to include.

For those who are brave enough, or simply cannot wait any longer, they may make their way to the restroom, only to struggle to find a stall with a working lock. Using the restroom and hastily returning to class becomes all the more difficult when you have to worry about random kids barging in and attempting to entertain themselves at your expense.

What goes on in the restrooms is beyond perplexing. There are students who don’t just stop at smoking/vaping and hanging out (which is bad enough as it is). Some deliberately try to stop people from using the restroom. Just this year, there was an incident which occurred involving a disabled student where a group of students threw a trash can at the student while he was trying to use the restroom. Also this year, mostly in the men’s restrooms, there was a craze where students would steal objects like soap and paper towel dispensers, culminating in one restroom missing an entire sink. If that sounds hard to believe, that’s because it should be. It should not be considered normal for these kinds of events to happen.

In the women’s restroom, many can attest to the large amount of floorspace near the sinks, as well as the disabled stalls, being crowded with large groups of people, as if it is a spot to hang out and not a spot to excrete waste. It’s absolutely ridiculous – when you walk into the bathroom, you shouldn’t feel like you’re going to get judged for using it as it’s intended.

Is it really too much to ask for the average student not to have anxiety about using the bathroom? Is it really that difficult to use the bathroom as a place to actually… use the bathroom? This is not even a call to action, it is a call to inaction. If you do not need to use the restroom, do not go in the restroom. If you want to be entertained, avoid ruining some kid’s day and just go on your phone. Or maybe Google how much bacteria there is in public restrooms; that inaction might just come a whole lot easier.