<p>Right ok, sorry I interpreted it more as “if something icky happens will someone else clean it up so my child doesn’t have to??” Sorry again :)</p>
<p>Being female, I have not tried to venture into a men’s bathroom. I do not expect students to do a thorough cleaning job, just not to turn their bathroom into a pigsty. The fact that there is a Dorm Crew, made up of students who get paid the princely sum of $12.00 an hour is no reason for students to leave their bathrooms in filthy conditions.</p>
<p>I doubt that the concern over filthy bathrooms is due to fear of flu, which is relatively recent.
Read Greg Halpern, * Harvard Works Because We Do * for a portrait of what Harvard janitors and others do.</p>
<p>^ I did not just ask about an every day dirty bathroom which I agree the students should be capable of keeping reasonable. What I asked about was in the event of a single time problem from let’s say an intoxicated roommate, flu, etc. Given that vomit borders on the definition medical waste these days, I did not know if the students were to attempt to deal with it.</p>
<p>^Smoda, I understand your concern. I was responding to curious77.
I believe if the mess is greater than an everyday state of mess, the students should talk to the proctor who will decide on what action to take. Actual students can correct me if I’m wrong.</p>
<p>^ That sounds logical to me. Hopefully it will never be an issue. :)</p>
<p>Smoda - I think that can in fact be an issue. And considering that there are no cleaning supplies given to the kids for the bathroom it seems that it may be difficult to deal with. They would have to go and borrow supplies from Dorm Crew offices when it opens, meanwhile…
Marite- Exactly, it is a men’s bathroom in the Holworthy setting and not the type that is in a suite which is more like a single bathroom that I would not be hesitant to enter knowing it was unoccupied.<br>
I stated the paid wage in response to a post saying there is no real difference between dorm crew cleaning and the students themselves. But I wonder if it is Dorm Crew because it appears that dorm crew cleans only in suite bathrooms (every two weeks even though they are private). Another poster said it is the Harvard maintenance that cleans Holworthy. Holworthy is a different situation. While it was stated that with 8 kids a rotation plan would be easy, I disagree. With 8 kids there is more of a mess and it would be easier to shirk responsibility for making it. Older S has lived in suites with private bathrooms and the boys (3 to 4) just cleaned up when needed since it was theirs (they had no cleaning service from the college). I do expect the kids to all dispose of their trash and act reasonably. But to not have toilets cleaned for two weeks is to me disgusting and without handy cleaning tools right there, I doubt if more than picking up will be done. At Holworthy it is very much like a hall bathroom. This is my opinion.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I’m 99% certain FMO (Harvard janitors) will come to clean up vomit, blood, etc.</p></li>
<li><p>@marite The most disgusting bathrooms I was in during my time at Harvard all belonged to women. I think men’s bathrooms are on average less clean, but far less likely to be the “disaster zones” women’s rooms can turn into. </p></li>
<li><p>curious77 - I think you’re being absurd about cleaning supplies. If students want the convenience of supplies in their room, they can buy them! If they’d rather save the money, they can walk the 25 steps to the Dorm Crew office.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>That said, I agree with you that Holworthy bathrooms are right on the line between “in-suite” and “hallway” (my hunch at the beginning of this thread was hallway, but I was wrong). Eight students is just enough that there’s a bit of a “tragedy of the commons” where no one feels responsible for the mess that’s been made. </p>
<p>However, I feel like there’s a sense of entitlement in your posts that I disagree with. It’s great that Harvard pays for things to be cleaned, but there’s no “right” to a clean bathroom!</p>
<p>Just forget me:</p>
<p>I have no doubt that women’s bathrooms can be more disgusting than men’s. The stuff that women think is absolutely essential to good grooming far surpasses in quantity that of men’s. And in my experience, women are not better at throwing away used tissue paper, cotton balls, etc… than men. </p>
<p>S1 lived in an apartment for 10 in his senior year at his LAC. The students were responsible for cleaning the one and only bathroom. There was no rota for cleaning it. Unsurprisingly, it was filthy when I visited S (as was the kitchen). If Harvard students get their bathroom cleaned once every two weeks, they are enjoying a greater degree of cleanliness!</p>
<p>jfm - I guess I am absurd in thinking that the Drom Crew office is not open 24-7. 
My sense of entitlement comes from my impression that these were hall bathrooms, the lack of information provided to students and parents regarding dorm issues, the cost of board at Harvard, and my knowledge of how other colleges operate. I did not see anyone move in with toilet brushes and mops, so it is my impression that most residents and their parents were unaware of the cleaning situation.</p>
<p>Curious77 - I’d encourage you to contact the Freshman Dean’s Office if you don’t feel like you had enough information prior to move in. Dean Dingman is a great guy + very responsive to feedback.</p>
<p>Thought I would provide an update:</p>
<p>1) D’s suite bathroom has yet to have anyone come and clean - move in day was a week and two days ago
2) An “emergency” came up in another suite which was cleaned up - D thought that it was dorm crew that dealt with it
3) The trashcan purchase has been very helpful</p>
<p>Are the bathrooms co-ed or single sex?</p>
<p>In holworthy, they are single sex. I don’t know anything about the other dorms.</p>
<p>Most dorms are single sex, but I know a few are co-ed (I think those are houses though). Mine has an in-suite bathroom, so we lucked out.</p>
<p>I don’t think there are any multiple person co-ed bathrooms at Harvard, but I could be wrong.</p>
<p>…btw…it’s “EN-suite”.</p>