Students Say Bathrooms are Dirty, But Who’s to Blame?

BY NORA SEWEIFY AND NUSHKA GATWARY

Despite efforts from the university’s service department to keep on-campus bathrooms hygienic this semester, students have been voicing complaints about their cleanliness.

Mohamed Abdel Aziz, the senior director of Facilities and Operations, said that there are 500 bathrooms on campus, but only 200 staff members available to maintain all bathrooms, classrooms, hallways, dorms and open areas.

“There are times, like the assembly hour, for example, where a lot of students use the bathrooms all at once, so at this time [when classrooms are empty], our cleaning personnel go in and clean classrooms,” said Abdel Aziz.

He added that this could explain why bathrooms are unclean during certain times.

Assembly hour bathroom congestion is a concern.

Business Administration senior Bosayna Fahim said, “There are times during which the bathrooms are fully occupied; how can they be cleaned when they’re all full?”

Associate Director of Campus Planning and Construction Services Nabil Ali Soonalla, said that a member of the cleaning personnel cleans the bathrooms on an hourly basis.

However, some students do not think that these measures are sufficient.

“The problem with the bathrooms at AUC is that there is always tissue on the floor and sometimes there are footprints all over the place,” said Salma El Gamal, Business Administration junior.

Omar Raafat, a Mechanical Engineering senior, said that although these issues exist in both the men’s and women’s bathrooms, they are more prevalent in the men’s bathrooms.

“Most of [the men’s bathrooms] aren’t clean; you rarely find soap or toilet paper and they smell bad,” said Raafat.

Abdel Aziz added that the lack of soap and toilet paper could be attributed to the large amount of community members who use the bathrooms in a short amount of time, leading to a shortage in supplies.

But Soonalla said that issues of bathroom cleanliness only persist because of the community’s negligence.

“If everyone committed themselves to good personal cleanliness and the proper use of things, then we wouldn’t have this problem,” Soonalla said.

He said that this is a problem with Egyptians in general and that the problem could stem from the cleaning staff’s negligence in cleaning.

“Everyone takes care of their own belongings; however when it comes to others’ [bathrooms], their behavior isn’t the same,” Soonalla said.

Abdel Aziz also said that part of the problem lies in the way community members use the bathrooms and facilities on campus.

She added that the problem could be solved through awareness campaigns that call for a “cleaner use of bathrooms”, and increasing the amount of housekeeping personnel.

Abdel Aziz and Soonalla added that they are currently working on implementing a system that should ensure that the distribution of cleaning staff to the bathrooms will be more effective in order to guarantee that all areas around campus are kept clean at all times.