Meramec College needs to rethink restrooms.
By: Elijah Braswell, Staff Writer
Bathrooms, bathrooms, everywhere and not a one to use. Three on one floor, to be specific; and I am not allowed to use any of them. In the Science West building there are two faculty bathrooms (male/female), and one public women’s restroom. However, there are no public men’s restrooms on the first floor. The situation is the same in the Business Administration building. As a result, to use the restroom while taking my Biology class I have to take the elevator upstairs, cross the entire building, cross back, take the elevator down, and return to class. I timed it; in total it took me nine minutes from classroom to bathroom – a grand total of 18 minutes; plus time to actually use the facilities.
Personally I have been able to avoid this issue. As a disabled student in a wheelchair, Meramec has accommodated my situation and given me permission to use the faculty facilities. However, this merely puts a band-aid on the issue; why should any student have to take 18 minutes just travelling to the bathroom during classes? Why do the faculty even need private bathrooms? Shouldn’t what’s good for the goose be good for the gander?
Now take a gander at the legal requirements. According to OSHA.gov, “OSHA requires employers to provide all workers with sanitary and immediately-available toilet facilities (restrooms).” Obviously with multiple private bathrooms in multiple buildings, the college has been following OSHA… for the faculty. What about the students? Sure, they are not employees of the college and “technically” not required to have bathrooms within reasonable distances of students. However, 18 minutes is too much.
Disclaimer: I do not hate Meramec. In fact, I think they’ve been personally accommodating and this is likely just an issue of severely outdated buildings and poorly thought out upgrades; a common problem in campuses across the country, not just here. Overall I’ve had a positive experience here, but in order to keep that experience positive for future students I am trying to bring attention to this issue. The college needs to either convert the faculty bathrooms into public restrooms on floors where there are none or build new restrooms entirely.
After all, if going to the bathroom takes more than 18 minutes after a trip to Meramec, you should probably contact your doctor.
