Last Monday, an email was sent out to Pomona College students living in Walker Hall—one of the dormitories for upperclassmen—from Pomona’s Residence Life Coordinator, Andrew Castro, complaining of a urine problem in the residence hall, raising the issue of acceptable standards of behavior on college campuses.
The email stated that there had been complaints from maintenance and facilities staff of “urine being found on the restroom floors,” and expressed concern for the “health and wellbeing of staff that have to respond and address these issues.”
In addition, Castro noted that some students had even urinated into bins located within the residence hall, rather than bothering to use the lavatory facilities. There were even reports of plastic bags filled with urine being found in these trash cans:
“There are reports that that plastic bags filled with urine are being disposed in the hallway trashcans. Additionally, urine has also been found in the trash bins themselves.”
As well as being a public health hazard, with the “building attendants [having] to take extra precautions and steps in order to deal with these incidents.” The urine-soaked bins also allegedly created an unpleasant smell that “[permeates] the general hallway”, thus making the entire building smell of urine.
Castro added that “[a]nother alarming trend is urine being found on the restroom floors. Restroom in the Walker main corridors are shared facilities.”
Upon reading this email, one student told the Independent on the condition of anonymity that “this [behavior] is disgusting but also a huge health hazard. I’ve even seen people leaving faeces in the toilet bowls—I don’t understand how people think it’s okay [to behave like this].”
The student added that leaving the residence halls in such a state is “not only unfair towards other students, but also to the cleaners and maintenance staff who have to sort it out.”
Drug usage has also been rising at Pomona College and the rest of the Claremont Colleges Consortium—which also includes Harvey Mudd, Claremont McKenna, Scripps, and Pitzer Colleges—and some students attributed the behavior to lack of enforcement and normalization of drug usage on campus culture.
PhotoFlickr/Pomona College: