Tufts students may soon smell the scent of relief as the Facilities Department plans to renovate the bathrooms in residence halls around campus.
The proposed improvements are part of the university's deferred maintenance program, an initiative that gradually evaluates the facilities around campus and conducts renovations as it finds them to be necessary.
According to Rudi Pizzi, the program's manager, this is the first time that residence hall bathrooms, most of which were built in the 1950s and '60s, will be renovated on a campus-wide basis.
"We're in the process of evaluating where [to renovate] and what we're going to do," Pizzi said. "We look at the bathrooms based on what their needs are based on function and looks. We try to deal with the worst [first]."
Pizzi explained that the project is currently in the planning stages and that the Facilities Department is still examining the extent to which it can make renovations. The plan currently calls for the lavatories in three residence halls to be
renovated.
He stressed that variables such as the cost of materials will have an impact on the amount and extent of renovations and that it is possible that only one or two residence halls will receive treatment.
"We are looking at the number of bathrooms we are going to renovate," Pizzi said. "[By] this time next year, we will be able to tell you all the details of the project."
Many students welcomed the suggestion of renovations to aging bathrooms.
Freshman Jacqueline Girouard said the bathrooms in Haskell Hall are much in need of improvement.
"The toilets tend to have problems. They're not fully functional," Girouard said. "They'll overflow on weekends when no one will be around to clean them."
Freshman and Hill Hall resident Alex Hoffman told of similar problems with the bathrooms in his residence hall. "There's a big hole in the wall in one of the stalls," he said.
Sophomore Dan Jamison, a resident of Carmichael Hall, suggested that bathrooms there are not big enough. "They're too small," he said. "There [are] too many guys
using them."
He added that the bathrooms' poor conditions are often exacerbated by the practices of some residents. "They get cleaned on a fairly regular basis, but the accumulation [of] the poor sanitary habits of the students just builds up," he said.
Not all residence halls may be in need of repair. Some students report satisfactory bathroom
conditions.
Freshman and Lewis Hall resident Daniel Rodkey feels that while there is room for improvement in several bathrooms, they generally serve their purpose.
"We just had our sink redone. It functions well enough for its purpose. The showers work, the water's hot, I don't really think it needs repairs," he said.
