The latest manifestation of Binghamton University’s cost-cutting efforts may, oddly enough, affect your campus bathroom routine.
As part of an effort to cut costs in a climate of dwindling state support for SUNY schools, Physical Facilities administrators closed 27 of the campus’ 365 bathrooms July 1.
Physical Facilities also plan to save money by reducing the frequency with which the bathrooms still in use will be cleaned.
The New York Legislature passed $289 million in cuts to SUNY’s funding as part of the state’s budget in March, bringing the total amount by which SUNY has been cut to $1.4 billion in the last four years, according to The Chronicle for Higher Education.
Ryan Yarosh, assistant director of media relations at BU, said that Physical Facilities is one of many parts of BU that has been affected by funding cuts. According to Yarosh, general operations funds contributed by the state decreased from $70 million in 2008-09 to $56.7 million in 2009-10, and are expected to be around $7-8 million in 2011-12.
Yarosh said that the University has taken several different steps to cope with less state funding.
“We have put a number of measures into place to address these reductions while at the same time protecting the quality of our academic and research programs,” he said. “[The bathroom closures] is one of the many measures that, like reduced grounds maintenance schedules, realignment of staff duties and curtailment of major purchases, have been used to absorb the impact of these cuts.”
Karen Fennie, communications director for Physical Facilities, also stated that the University’s custodial staff now consists of 25 fewer people than it did in 2008.
“In addition to saving money, an important part of this is managing the work load with so many fewer people that do this work,” Fennie said.
Administrators determined which bathrooms would be closed by evaluating which are used least and which are located in close proximity to another bathroom, according to Fennie. She said the University also took special care to ensure compliance with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act by preserving sufficient handicapped-accessible bathrooms.
Physical Facilities staff members will remove signs indicating that there is a bathroom at closed locations and substitute signs indicating where the next nearest bathroom is.
There are no plans to reopen the closed bathrooms this fall, and no date has been set for their reopening.
Information about exactly how much money the University would save through the bathroom closings was not available.
Some students have mixed feelings about the closures and are wary of the impact it will have on their daily routines, but also accept the change as another small sacrifice in order to keep the school running in a tough economy.
“At first I was kind of annoyed and disgusted because bathrooms are a necessity and shouldn’t be treated as a luxury around a campus,” said Sabreen Jafry, an undeclared sophomore. “However, after reading through the information on the school’s website, I came to the understanding that … if the money can be put toward bettering our campus in another way then I don’t mind the change.”
All the buildings and the sites of closure are listed with a map on the school’s web page.