The Ranger (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 89, No. 11, Ed. 1 Monday, February 23, 2015 Page: 8 of 8
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News
8 • Feb. 23, 2015
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Litter in the women’s room in Room 252 of Loftin Photos by Pam Paz
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A urinal in the men’s room in the cafeteria of Loftin
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Recently renovated, the women’s room in Room 312 of Fletcher is spotless.
Except for an unflushed toilet, a unisex restroom in Room 404 of Moody is clean.
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Restroom review
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Students say college restrooms could use a
little attention.
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By Matthew Reyna
sac-ranger@alamo.edu
A two-week review of the restrooms at this college showed
that not all restrooms are cleaned equally.
The sight and smell of stale urine is prevalent in most men’s
and women’s restrooms, according to this reporter’s observa-
tions, conducted in January and February with the help of a
a combination of the two in Moody Learning Center, the second
floor of Longwith Radio, Television and Broadcasting, and the
bottom two floors of Fletcher Administration Center. These three
buildings stand out as the dirtiest restrooms on campus.
The nursing complex restrooms rank as the best places to
take care of business on campus for men or women. Automated
lighting lets students know if the restrooms are currently vacant
or occupied. There are three restrooms on every floor of the
building, which minimizes traffic.
The main men’s restroom on Longwith’s second floor fails
occupants of that building — including this reporter, who works
as a DJ at KSYM — in many ways. Since summer 2013, the rest-
room had maintained a urine smell stronger than anything from
Moody. The culprit was a layer of coated urine on the urinals that
seems to have been building for months. Upon a return visit in
February, the restroom seemed to have been deodorized. The
smell was largely gone, but paper towels still littered the floor,
and the dried urine had not been removed from the urinals. And
now there were little pieces of hair stuck to the dried urine.
Fletcher Administration Center is the first campus experience
for many prospective students. What they will see upon visiting
the first-floor restroom, which serves the financial aid and testing
center, is severely aged equipment mixed with a filthy exterior.
The toilet bowl-style urinals are caked with layers of urine.
The flush handles are wet from water, urine or another liquid.
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A “Wet Floor” sign, which seems to be permanently stationed
in the restroom, blocks a trashcan covered in a thick, dripping
gunk. The sign remains dutifully in place days later.
On the second floor of Fletcher, which includes the admis-
sions and business offices and is the most student-intensive area
in the building, the two restrooms are unisex and only fit one
student at a time. On the third floor, an administrative floor with
little student traffic, the restrooms were closed for construction
for most of the two-week review.
When the restrooms re-opened in the beginning of February,
they were the most modern in the building. The new restroom
now has a wide entrance and, thanks to surplus material from
Moody, a hands-free dryer and new tile.
“There are plans to renovate the other restrooms in Fletcher,”
Vela said. “It’s going to have to be one step, one facility at a time.”
Vela said he uses restrooms all over the campus. He indicated
that there is obvious usage in some of the high-traffic areas, but
said, “There hasn’t been [anything] that shocked me. Nothing
that made me say wow!”
To file a work request, go to the SAC Facilities homepage.
vices, if they notice something wrong. “We encourage all people
to contact Mr. Mrizek if they have issues with the restrooms on
campus,” Vela said.
Mrizek said the cleaning in most buildings is by contractors.
The school retains a handful of its own housekeeping employees.
Custodial sign-in sheets checked in late January showed
restrooms in Chance Academic Center, the Student Success
Center and Gonzales Hall had not been cleaned in months. Or
the sign-in sheets had not been updated in months. A February
follow-up check on the sign-in sheets showed they have largely
been removed from their plastic holders. The only active sheet
that had been updated in 2015 was in the men’s restroom on the
second floor of McCreless Hall.
The cleanliness and modern amenities of restrooms in newer
buildings, such as the nursing complex and Oppenheimer
Academic Center is contrasted by filth, outdated equipment, or
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female photographer. Hands-intensive sinks
that require students to hold down a push
button while washing their hands are the
norm, not the exception. Graffiti covers a
lot of the restroom walls and mirrors, and is
especially pervasive in Gonzales Hall.
“Most of the time, they are dirty and are
hardly ever stocked with paper towels,” psy-
chology freshman Aurelio Alcoser said.
In a Feb. 17 interview, Dr. Robert Vela,
president of the college, said, “Keeping rest-
rooms clean is everybody’s responsibility. If
you see something, report it.”
He also prompted students to email
David Mrizek, vice president of college ser-
The men’s and women’s restrooms on
both floors of McAllister Fine Arts Center
provide a hands-off restroom experience.
Open windows and wide walkways keep the
restrooms smelling fresh. Automatic doors
allow a student to walk in and out of the
restroom without having to touch anything.
On the other hand, Moody restrooms,
which handle droves of students daily, get a
very low score by the same criteria. This goes
for the men’s and women’s restrooms.
Conversely, restrooms on the first two
floors of Fletcher and on the second floor of
Longwith have less student traffic, but are
still just as bad, if not worse.
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San Antonio College. The Ranger (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 89, No. 11, Ed. 1 Monday, February 23, 2015, newspaper, February 23, 2015; San Antonio, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1511608/m1/8/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting San Antonio College.