by Aren Bergstrom

The bathroom in the lower levels of the Physics building looks right at home in a Harry Potter book.

What? Campus washrooms at the U of S.

When? “The washrooms division of the U of S custodial staff has been around since Hurricane Katrina, so 2005.”

Why? “The washrooms have been an ignored sector of campus maintenance. While we could’ve gone the route of making everything spick-and-span, we felt that a luminescent sheen says very little to the quality of the people on campus. What makes the people of the U of S special? Their down-to-earth quality. Their used clothes. Their ever-present scent of feces. We felt that nothing speaks of the lived-in feel of the campus more than sitting on a warm seat that has a shared history to it. This was why the washrooms division was started.”

How? “After the washrooms division was started, we stripped the rooms down to their bare bones: toilet bowl, sink, drain in the middle of the floor. We then brought in conceptual artists to virtualize the used feeling of a washroom. What does a used washroom look like, smell like, feel like? How does your spirit move when you hear a splunk in the next stall? After we got the basic mood down, we had to decide how to implement it. We took out classified ads — in print. The custodial staff at the U of S doesn’t support Internet marketplaces like Kijiji — and four individuals were selected based on their aptitude for this particular skill-set. We divided up which washrooms each volunteer would be responsible for, and then installed them in their units for two-hour blocks where they would naturalize the areas. Finally, the custodial staff brought in some necessary toiletries — not too many, mind you, and nothing above two-ply, we don’t want every washroom to have an abundance of soap and sanitary napkins — and the process was complete. We had actualized used washrooms across the campus. And the beautiful thing is that we don’t have to do anything to keep them in their used state. The students on campus are more than willing to keep the toilet seats warm, so to speak.”

—
Fridges photos by Raisa Pezderic