There are several hundred washrooms in approximately 39 buildings across Ryerson’s campus. These washrooms are allegedly cleaned daily, once students and staff have gone home. According to Ryerson’s acting manager of maintenance, Adrian Williams, at the start of every day, five days a week, washrooms are, or should be, tip-top tidy. 

It should come as no shock that as the day progresses,  Ryerson’s washrooms fall into a deeper state of disorder. Despite regular maintenance throughout the day by Ryerson’s cleaning staff, toilets are in a muddle, stalls have puddles, and there’s often a furball of hair clogging the sinks. 

It seems all too simple to blame our washroom woes on the cleaners. 

Sure, it’s their job to wipe down the mirrors, and it’s frustrating when they don’t unclog a toilet the minute after it happens, but hygiene is personal. If you can wipe your own ass, you’re surely capable of throwing paper into the garbage. 

The only people we blame for leaving used tampons on the floor are you, the people using the washrooms. It might not seem fair to put the blame on the shoulders of the entire student body, but who else is using these washrooms, if not you?

Buildings like Kerr Hall are no exception. They also happen to be the dirtiest on campus. Every time you leave pee on the seat, you have just made it that much harder for your peers to use the washrooms afterwards. Really, how difficult is it to use the loo in a sanitary fashion? 

And if you do happen to do anything unforgivable — face it, we’re human — and the cleaners are out of sight, you CAN contact maintenance. Ryerson’s help desk is available for you to report any breakdowns, overflowing toilets, and non-working equipment. The cleaners we love to blame will come forth to fix the mess all of us, at some point, have been guilty of leaving behind. All you have to do is reach out. They can’t read minds.

Even though Ryerson’s washroom are on private property, it feels as though institutions like universities are still open to the public.

Currently, Toronto’s bylaws don’t require inspections on private washrooms. Unless there is risk of infection, Toronto Public Health doesn’t care how clean our can is.

Take for instance the  Rogers Communications Centre. It’s location borders the edge of campus, which allows for strangers to walk in, do their business, and walk out. 

If strangers can have easy access to our washrooms, then Toronto Public Health should step in, at the very least, every six months to ensure sanitary stardards are maintained. 

But at the same time, if we want them to be cleaned better, we have to treat them better.

The bottom line: flush your God damn toilet, wash your dirty hands and throw away your disgusting hairball instead of putting it in the sink, before others are subject to dry heave. Basic etiquette, people.

Get in touch with the help desk at ext 5091 or by email at doit@ryerson.ca or fixit@ryerson.ca.

Reported break downs are generally fixed within a week of notification.

This story was first published in The Ryersonian, a weekly newspaper produced by the Ryerson School of Journalism, on March 20, 2013.