LETTER: Costs of bathroom renovation too high
You're all invited! On behalf of Brown College, I would like to extend an invitation to all students to use our new bathrooms at the beginning of next year. It'll be a party! After all, since every on-campus student is paying for this "renovation," I figure that everyone should get their money's worth.
For the blissfully uninformed, this summer Brown College will undergo the beginning of a two-year renovation. A controversial item on the agenda is the extensive (as well as expensive) split of our bathrooms. Currently, there is one large community bathroom on each residential floor; for the past two years, every bathroom has been coed, by student choice, for the sake of convenience. With private changing stalls adjacent to each shower stall, our current bathrooms offer a higher degree of privacy than other community bathrooms on this campus and elsewhere.
The university has come to the conclusion that the current arrangement is unacceptable. In fact, it is so unacceptable that they're willing to spend half a million dollars to completely gut out our current bathrooms, to erect a wall dividing the bathrooms in half, and to reinstall the plumbing. The university feels that the current architecture "determines coed bathrooms," despite the fact that, in years past, some floors have elected to keep their bathrooms single-sex. The last two years are the only years that all bathrooms have been coed. The administration believes that by splitting the facilities, they "preserve the right" of future generations of students to choose single-sex or coed facilities. Is this worth half a million dollars?
Brown College is strongly opposed to this "renovation." We are appalled that the university feels justified in wasting half a million dollars on bathrooms that the leaseholders -- the students of Brown College -- do not want or need.
We have proposed numerous alternatives to the university, all of which have received strong student support because they guarantee single-sex facilities without the large price tag for the small minority of Brown students who desire them. Proposals included splitting just one or two of our seven bathrooms, or creating two residentially single-sex floors. These proposals have been dismissed by the administration, as they feel that renovating all seven floors is "just the right thing to do."
The minimum estimate for the bathrooms has been set at $417,000. This assumes no unexpected expenditures. So, let's throw in the cost of asbestos removal and the other unforeseen costs incurred along the way. We are realistically talking about $500,000. And where does this half a million come from? Straight out of the budget that our Room and Board fee goes into. In other words, almost $300 out of every on-campus student's pocket.
Now, most of us realize that Rice tuition is a relative bargain, despite our disgruntled complaints on the annual increases. However, the value of our tuition dollar should not make us lose sight of the outrageous Room and Board fee.
The "Room" in "Room & Board" has increased steadily from $2440 my freshman year to $3100 for next year. All rightey. Did you realize that to live and eat on campus next year, you will pay anywhere from $550 to $635 per month?
Now, let's consider the cost of living off campus. Rent and food are typically about $350 a month. Even throwing in transportation costs and the random pieces of furniture, you wouldn't spend anywhere near $550/month. Plus, you have a kitchen, probably your own room, tons more space, and also your own private bathroom...
Oh yes, bathrooms. So, half a million bucks to split the bathrooms, all for the noble cause of preserving the choice for future generations.
Yet F&H is reluctant to invest a mere fraction of that money into our PDR, which sorely needs a facelift. Never mind the fact that more tours and parents go through our PDR than our bathrooms. Last semester, at a fire alarm meeting, we discussed the possibility of installing plastic alarm covers around campus to reduce the number of false pulls. F&H said it wasn't feasible because it would cost $10,000 to outfit the whole system. Let's weigh the alternatives: should we spend $10,000 for student safety, or $500,000 to split the Brown bathrooms?
Perhaps the most frustrating part of the bathroom renovation, however, has been dealing with F&H on a frequent basis.
When I changed into office one year ago, I was naively pleased when I heard the spiel from F&H that they were "here to serve the students," and I looked forward to working with them. I changed out of office one week ago with a vastly different opinion.
In a meeting first semester, a Food and Housing official, stated that coed bathrooms posed a security risk to the "girls" of Brown College.
Our co-master, Jamie Haymes, politely reminded him that women are not the only members of Brown at risk.
The official replied that it was not the "men" that he had to worry about, but rather the "girls."
Now, certainly, a "girl" is more prone to sexual assault than a "man." However, the phrasing of his remarks that night offended everyone sitting at the table.
This is not an isolated incident. Other Brown students who have talked with this official on this issue have also noted his sexist attitude. Personally, I have sometimes felt that I did not receive the respect from this official that I deserved as a college president because I am a short female.
Several times in the past two weeks, he said to me: "I've enjoyed working with you, Rachele. Oh, I know that I may pick on you sometimes, but I have enjoyed working with you." Somehow I get the feeling that if I were a six-foot male, he wouldn't have been "picking" on me so much.
Maybe if he thought more about what's between my ears instead of what's not between my legs, he would have appreciated the fact that I was elected to represent the opinion of 300 students.
Another official from Food and Housing has repeatedly given us inconsistent or incorrect information.
This ranges from telling us that the directive for splitting the bathrooms originated with the Board of Governors, all the way to mentioning that if coed bathrooms continue at Brown, students could be faced with disciplinary action. What's up with that?
The most damaging credit to this second administrator, however, is probably his pitiful behavior at a lunch meeting at Brown this last January. Despite the congenial manner of Brown students, he reciprocated with barely civil behavior, offering only curt remarks and answers to our questions about the renovation. At least one student sitting at the table was so disgusted by his rude behavior that she felt forced to leave.
I wonder, is Food and Housing really here to serve the students? That's what they tell us, but it can't possibly be true. Every proposal that we have made, even outside the realm of renovations, is met with guarded skepticism.
Food and Housing spends their time searching out reasons to tell us "no" instead of working to find the ways to tell us "yes."
Every idea we have proposed about the bathrooms has run up against F&H's interpretation of the Houston City Building Code, although they will readily admit that it is a "nebulous" document and that one can obtain variances for specific parts of the Code.
Oh yeah, one more thing. Let's remember the last two renovations: Jones and Lovett. Neither were completed by O-Week. In fact, at Jones, advisors were hired to assemble and move furniture before the freshmen arrived.
Now, do me a favor and take a moment to imagine the chaos if the bathrooms aren't ready by O-Week of next year.
So, I guess that's enough bitching for now. To next year's presidents: all I can say is, don't let F&H stick you with the excuse that they don't have enough money. If they think bathrooms are worth half a million, think of how much money you should get for something that's actually worthwhile!
Rachele Harless
Former President,
Brown College
This item appeared in the Opinion section of the March 18, 1994 issue.
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