Bathrooms in the dorms at SF State have more students per facility than surrounding universities, causing overcrowding, sanitation, problems.

About 820 freshmen residents in Mary Ward and Mary Park halls use communal bathrooms averaging more than 30 residents per facility when properly working. Other universities average eight students.

“It’s so gross, I’ve already gotten sick because it’s all muggy in here,” Mary Ward resident Erin Moscos, 18, said. “My parents don’t pay $1,000 a month for me to use these bathrooms.”

Each freshman-dorm floor houses about 70 students. Every floor has one men’s and one women’s bathroom, each with five separate showers and toilets.

Shared bathrooms are common to dorm life, but SF State has the highest number of people per stall when compared to Cal State East Bay, UC Berkeley, San Jose State, and Sacramento State. The resident representatives at Sacramento State and UC Berkeley estimated 25 students per facility, usually with five stalls each.

The Department of Building Inspection’s Chief Kornfield said San Francisco has no regulations as to how many bathrooms are necessary in dorms.

“It is perfectly legal as long as there is one,” he said.

Most students interviewed said they are most concerned with cleanliness.
“Oh, it was hell,” said former Mary Ward resident James Jiffin. “It wasn’t so much that it was crowded. It just felt dirty all the time.”

Some residents said they think the bathrooms are cleaned once a week, while others said they see the cleaners every morning.

Maria Porter, a dorm janitor, said, “I don’t clean them every day, but I know someone does.”
A cleaning schedule was not available at press time.

Even when communal bathrooms are cleaned daily, they are breeding grounds for foot fungus,
according to Castro Valley podiatrist Dr. Carolyn McAloon.

“You don’t know who’s been walking around and if they have something on their feet,” said McAloon.
Jiffin has advice for incoming freshmen.

“They just have to grin and bear it until next year,” he said.