The way my dorm is set up, six people share a gender-neutral bathroom. Each bathroom is made for up to five people at a time, as there is one toilet, one shower, one urinal, and two sinks.
One resident likes to lock the entire bathroom whenever he has to do anything from wash his hands to, I can only assume, shave his entire body. About a week before finals the bathroom was locked for a good three hours. I know his identity because I saw him leave once.
Obviously it’s incredibly frustrating to have to walk to another dorm section’s bathroom just to take out your contact lenses or brush your teeth, and the other hall residents have made it clear that they detest locking the bathroom. They have voiced their disdain through passive-aggressive whiteboard messages, messages in the hall group chat, and speaking directly to our RA, but nothing has changed.
Given that the usual options have been exhausted, how should the other hall members deal with this issue in the spring semester?
Think about the reasonableness of your request. Being able to get into a bathroom designed for multiple people is reasonable (I assume the toilet has a stall).
Take steps to ameliorate the situation yourself. Nothing you can really do.
Discuss issue with Roommate. Say somethng like "This bathroom is designed for multiple people to use it at once. I understand you want privacy, but it isn’t working that you lock the door for 3 hours when we need to brush our teeth at night. Can we figure out a schedule where the bathroom is available at normal getting up/going to sleep times?
See if roommate is compromising…
5)Think about what you want to the end result to be…that works for both of you. Don’t lock door. Let him have an hour to himself at off peak hours.
Go to RA. State the issue, state that you have talked to roommate (because they will ask), state that you have tried other steps (like eyemasks) and ask for help in resolving the situation. "RA, I would like to get your advice on figuring out a resolution to an issue I am having with my roommate. We are not able to use our bathroom at night because Dude locks the bathroom for hours. It is my understanding that the bathroom is designed for multi person use.
Most likely they will come up with a roommate contract for you alla to sign.
Follow the contract…and if your roommate doesn’t, then go back to the RA. If your roommate retaliates, go back to the RA.
If RA doesn’t follow through or is useless, see if there is a different RA in your building. If not, go to the Housing office. Explain you have gone through the “chain of command”…that is, you talked to your roommate and then the RA but the issue still exists.