Issue date: 4/14/06 Section: News

Media Credit: Steve Nolan

The men of second floor Hardin are distinctly pissed off. Last week, in a flurry of drills, caulk, and curtains, Physical Plant removed the locking wooden shower stalls and replaced them with curtain dividers, similar to those in Martin. It left a group of Hardinites feeling bewildered and vulnerable.

"People are concerned with prison rape-type scenarios because there are no locks," said sophomore Ryan Norman.

Sophomore Sagar Patel went to the next Senate meeting to give voice to the complaints of the floor. He gave testimony to how nice the wooden stalls are for giving support in the shower and expressed his desire for more communication from Physical Plant about when they are going to make changes to student living spaces. Dean Hardin agreed to look into the matter.

"The reasons I went to the meeting were to ask why they didn't send out an e-mail and to find if it's going to be temporary or not," Patel said.

Senior Ryan Donaldson, the RA closest to the showers, says he has heard about 20 of his residents voice their opinion on the matter, all of them negative. Most commented on the privacy issues and the gross factor.

"I think there is a gross factor. It can swing around and touch you and you think everyone else has had this on their naked body," said Donaldson.

Sophomore Walt Wilcox said, "I was biased towards the stalls, it gives you more privacy."

The new situation has caused usual hygiene patterns to be disrupted. Many of those used to using the now-curtained shower spent the first week walking to use the south side showers.

This action had a ripple effect. Just as when a gazelle takes a different migratory route forcing the other animals to move from their normal watering spot, so too did the north-siders crowd out the south-siders to move upstairs or shower at a different time out, according to Patel.

Dean Hardin had Director of Residence Life John Omolo check into the matter. By the time of the next senate meeting Dean Hardin was able to present the information about the showers that the Hardinites craved. Patel, who was inspired to run for Hardin senator after the shower situation, was there for the resolution. The bolts that held down the stalls caused a leak into the first floor bathroom. The only quick solution was to take out the stalls and replace them with curtains. This summer the stalls will be replaced. The students are still a little miffed.

"If they were going to change something I wish they would've said something about it," Wilcox said. "One of the reasons I ran for senator was to try to get the administration to tell us what they are going to do, if they're going to make a change, and I'll be able to work with them on Hardin stuff," said Patel.

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