Once upon a time there lived a Shorewood science student who had to use the restroom (to avoid any vulgarity I won’t go into why). This student had an abundance of options to choose from. If he/she happened to be in the middle of a crucial biology class, he/she could duck out for just a moment and use the second floor facility. If, on the other hand, this student happened to be enjoying physics, he/she would have the opportunity to use the one on the first floor.

Shorewood students no longer have the options that student had. Male students are still able to make it back to their biology classes just as quickly, but not their physics class. The opposite is true for female students.

If that was too twisted of an explanation of what change has been made since last year, I will put it more straightforwardly: the newer bathrooms in the Arts and Sciences building have been converted to faculty bathrooms. Thus, people sometimes have to walk an extra flight of stairs in order to use the bathroom. Big deal, right?

No, actually it is not the hugest of inconveniences, and I am fully aware of that. Still, it is an inconvenience. I would estimate that one looses an extra minute or two whenever they have to use the restroom that is not on the floor that they are on, which can be a crucial amount of time depending on the class being missed.

Also, taking away the nicest bathrooms that the students had access to seems like an unnecessary waste. I have heard a variety of rumors concerning the new faculty bathrooms, though Tim Kenney, SHS assistant principal, confirmed only one. He said the change was due to student-caused damage, particularly in the men’s room. The question that comes to mind after I hear this is: is taking away that one bathroom really solving the problem? And if not, it seems a rather futile action.

Another one of the more probable rumors was that teachers have been asking for their own bathroom for a while, and their wish has finally been granted. Kenney said, “Prior to this, I had never heard a faculty request, not to say that there weren't any.”

If there were in fact staff members that asked for faculty bathrooms, I have two things to say. One, if you prefer not sharing bathrooms with students, there are already faculty facilities in the administration building, which exist exclusively for your use. Second, I can see your point, and it is probably more trouble for you to walk over there than it is for us to walk an extra flight of stairs.

So, all being equal, I suppose that the new faculty bathrooms don’t make a big enough difference to bother too much over them. Then again I thought I would at least give people the opportunity to think about this issue for the few minutes they are reading my unavoidably frivolous brainchild.