Excuse me, where’s the bathroom?

An exploration of the best women’s bathrooms at Hunter

It’s not uncommon to see a cleaning staff picking up after Hunterites in the hallways, the cafeterias and the countless bathrooms. I applaud them for keeping our college clean, but I didn’t stop there.

Hunter has three main buildings with who knows how many bathrooms, and I made it my mission to visit each one to find the best among the least desirable places at school.

I spent approximately three minutes in each bathroom following my own rubric. It depended on how clean the bathroom looked at first glance. This included: the floors, amount of litter, the sinks, the stalls and of course, the lighting.

First stop was the West Building with 17 floors. The best bathroom was on the sixth floor.

As I walked in I was surprised at how clean it was and, not to mention, completely empty.

It obviously received immediate checks on my rubric and the lighting was great.

Coming in a close second was the women’s bathroom on the eighth floor.

It’s a small two stall bathroom with more privacy on a quiet, calm floor.

The next stop on the Hunter women’s bathroom tour was the North Building with 16 floors.

The best one was located on the twelfth floor.

It’s definitely an outdated bathroom, but met the rubric’s standards with clean floors, sink, stalls and the natural lighting was alright.

The large, open windows help bring in fresh air and created a spacious environment.

The bathroom was a sharp contrast to the even more outdated hallways with their dim lighting and constant dead ends.

The third building visited was Thomas Hunter with only seven floors.

The best bathroom was on the second floor.

The creative bathroom door did blend in with Hunter clubs’ doorways, like  Hunter’s Envoy and O.T.R.

There’s a personalized vibe with white hand prints and a slightly concerning lack of doorknob.

Thomas Hunter’s the oldest of the four buildings that make up Hunter College, so it wasn’t a shock to discover an old bathroom. Despite that fact, there were plenty of clean stalls with a spacious sink area for Hunterites to make sure they’re looking their best.

Lastly, an unexpected bathroom I found on the third floor of Thomas Hunter was the gender neutral bathroom.

This is the first gender neutral bathroom I’ve encountered, and although it was a little daunting to go in it wasn’t terrible.

I did see two men washing their hands as I walked in, but it was mostly empty.

It wasn’t extremely clean and men did forget to put the toilet seat down in a few stalls.

After finishing up my tour, I was left wondering what other Hunter students thought and asked a few for their opinion on our bathrooms.

Rachel, Freshman, Undecided

What do you think about Hunter’s bathrooms? 

“They can be a little gross but it’s a public bathroom and the lines can be ridiculously long which is the most annoying part for me.”

Do you have a reliable bathroom you go to? 

“I actually go to the one on the fifth floor in the West. The line is always a little bit shorter.”

Have you seen the gender neutral bathroom in TH? 

“Oh yeah, it’s really cool. I’ve gone in there. It’s just like a normal bathroom. Everyone’s in there, guys and girls and people who are gender fluid or non gender conforming. It’s not uncomfortable or anything. There’s still stalls and privacy. I’m a big fan of gender neutral bathrooms.”

Jennifer, Freshman, Undecided

What do you think about the bathrooms here? 

“I think they’re decent. Every once in a while you find yourself in a dirty stall and just have to wait until someone comes out of a different one to go in. It’s alright I guess. It’s better than my high school bathrooms.”

Do you have one bathroom that you know is reliable? 

“I believe it’s in the West building by the gymnasium. I feel like no one goes in there so I think it’s the cleanest bathroom.”

Wait, there’s a bathroom near the gymnasium? 

“Exactly, I feel like not many people know about it so not that many go down there. I’m not even sure where it is. I just know how to get there.”

Jack, Junior, Media Studies

Since I’m not allowed into the men’s bathrooms, can you give me some insight?

“I can literally think of three or four dude rooms in the entire North building so like all of a sudden you’re in class, things start to escalate and you’re like ‘Well there’s not a bathroom for five floors I don’t know what to do.’ And there’s crazy vandalism in the dude’s room in the lobby of Hunter West.”

Sam, Junior, English

Since I’m not allowed into the men’s bathrooms, can you give me some insight?

“It’s better than a gas station. It’s a mission for guys just to find one.  I have to memorize which floors have one. I’ve had to walk 3 flights of stairs to find a bathroom. They’re pretty sanitary. The main complaint is the random graffiti all over that may or may not get offensive, usually it’s fine but every now and then it’s crazy.”

Have you gone to the gender neutral bathroom? 

“Yeah I think once or twice. It’s big and definitely the best bathroom.”

Well there you have it.

Enjoy clean me-times without having to worry about contracting some sort of disease or a door falling off its hinges.

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