Bathrooms throughout campus are being repaired to address deteriorating conditions.

“We started renovating bathrooms in the summer of 2004 to address plumbing problems because of age,” said Betsy Joseph, director of residence services.

Joseph said the renovations also addressed privacy issues. The bathrooms were converted to create pods within the bathroom. Pods include a toilet, sink and shower in a little room of its own.

Wright Hall was the first to be renovated, followed by Koonce, Lake, Olson, Eastway, Korb and Leebrick halls. Renovations are currently taking place in Prentice, Dunbar and Verder halls.

Freshman journalism major Becky Dickson said she is relieved the renovations are being done.

Dickson said she’ll be living in Johnson Hall, which has a private bathroom in each room. Other halls on campus with private bathrooms include Stopher Hall and most of the Centennial residence halls. Centennial A, Beall and McDowell halls have suite-style bathrooms in which a bathroom connects two rooms and is shared by the occupants of those rooms.

The price of each residence hall doesn’t necessarily coincide with the type of bathroom. Joseph said bathrooms are just a feature, like air conditioning or loft-able furniture, and newer residence halls are more expensive than older ones.

Joseph said the bathroom redesign improved the willingness of residents to live in on-campus communities. Still, some incoming freshmen are waiting to see exactly what their residence hall bathroom is like. Jenni Pizzuti, soon to be a resident of Leebrick Hall, is one of them.

“I haven’t had a chance to see how the bathrooms in my particular residence hall are set up, but how they were in Eastway was surprising,” Pizzuti said.

She said she wasn’t sure how the bathrooms would work out if everyone needed to get ready at the same time, but said she’ll have to wait and see when she moves in.

Contact student life reporter Stephanie Neumann at [email protected].