While students at NC State might not give any thought to the conditions of campus bathrooms during their busy school days, they play a large role throughout a students’ everyday life. However many bathrooms are still in need of renovations to make them updated and accessible to everyone.
Doug Morton, associate vice chancellor of facilities, designs ideas for bathroom renovation and brings them to life while dealing with all other factors of upkeep. There are a lot of tasks that go into renovation of campus bathrooms, but the main factor is accessibility.
“The law requires us, when we’re doing major renovations, to make all of the building entrances and spaces accessible,” Morton said. “We’re doing a major renovation to Mann Hall. Inside there will be new restrooms that before were not at all compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. All that stuff’s going to be adjusted so that anyone that comes to NC State can access any of the spaces there.”
Amelia Smith, a second-year studying animal science, said she believes more renovation on the campus bathrooms needs to be done to achieve accessibility to all students and faculty.
“There are definitely a lot of places on campus that I don’t know how you would get to certain classrooms or bathrooms if you have a disability,” Smith said. “In certain places you have to be able to climb stairs.”
Although not all bathrooms are easily accessible yet, Morton and his team said they are working on renovating any buildings necessary to meet the needs of the student body. Recently, they have completed renovations on The McKimmon Center, Campus Health, and Witherspoon Student Center. However, these renovations take a lot of time and effort.
“If I’ve got a restroom like in Broughton Hall that was built in the 1940’s and the restrooms are like dinosaurs, I have to modernize it,” Morton said. “I have to plan out how I’m going to take modern urinals or toilets or sinks and bring them into the space. Then I have to figure out where I’m going to get the materials. These things take time and so depending on the restroom and the condition of it, it could take two years from idea to completion.”
Morton said since many bathrooms on campus need to be renovated, there is an immense struggle to find the resources to renovate every bathroom that needs it.
“The biggest challenge is finding the money,” Morton said. “Our institution receives funding from the state for minor repair and renovation. The replacement value for all of our buildings and facilities is north of six billion dollars. This year for minor repair and renovation we get four and a half million dollars. I’ve got hundreds of buildings and I have enough money to work on seven of them.”
Despite bathrooms constantly being renovated, there are still underlying issues in the bathrooms people are noticing, particularly in dorm bathrooms.
“For my dorm specifically, I live in University Towers, so I can clean the bathroom whenever I want, and I think that brings me a lot of peace, and I like the cleanliness of it,” Smith said. “However I have a friend who also lives in University Towers who has a big problem with mold and she says it’s because they don’t have vents in the bathroom.”
Morton recognizes many issues in student bathrooms and as he works to repair maintenance issues, he’s open to solutions from students.
“These students are really bright. You’re here because you have a significant aptitude to understand things,” Morton said. “So the idea of giving complaints shouldn’t be the first step. It should be offering solutions.”
Morton and the rest of his team are working to find the funds and meet the needs of all students so they can have sanitary and easily accessible bathrooms all throughout campus.
“It’s about trying to be connected to what the campus life is like,” said Morton. “We’re always looking to make sure the campus is functioning. It might be a little old, and tired but it’s going to work, and if it’s not working, we always have somebody who can come to fix the problem.”
