The glaring need for toilet seat covers in Princeton's dormitory bathrooms

I write to advocate action on what I consider to be one of the most pressing needs on this campus — the need for disposable toilet seat covers in dormitory bathrooms. Okay, maybe this problem isn't as profound as the alleged disinclination to engage in intellectual conversation, for example, but it's certainly one with a more obvious solution (the installation of seat cover dispensers in dorm bathrooms).

Before I enumerate a few of the reasons why seat cover dispensers are necessary, I should emphasize that I am writing from a male perspective. One could make the case, however, that since girls have to "sit" more often than guys, they need seat covers even more than guys do.

First, seat covers are necessary, because the dorm bathrooms are our primary bathrooms. Consider the fact that most high schools provide seat covers for their students, even though any boy can avoid having to "sit down" given a minimal level of planning — there's always the home bathroom to return to. Clearly, those of us who live at school can't really avoid "sitting down" at school. That they are our primary bathrooms also means that they are more heavily used. High school students get seat covers, and we should get them, too.

Second, the absence of urinals in men's dorm bathrooms makes seat covers necessary. Why? Because guys are forced to substitute the toilets for urinals, and they don't always do this neatly (and with the seat up). Somebody with authority in Building Services made a conscious decision at some point to omit urinals; that decision should have been accompanied with another to install seat cover dispensers.

Third, even if the chances of contracting someone else's disease from a toilet seat are slim, just the idea of swapping butt-germs is sufficiently disgusting. Think of it this way — when you sit on a toilet seat, you are not just sitting on a toilet seat — you are sitting on the tushes of everyone who sat there since the janitor last wiped down the toilets. Yuck.

Fourth, the remnants of someone else's sitting are not always as invisible as bacteria. I hate finding leg hairs on the toilet seat. Let leg hair be a mild example of the kinds of surprises one finds on toilet seats. Sure, you'll still have to wipe the stuff off, but do you really want to sit directly on the toilet seat knowing what was on it?

A trick that I have adopted since arriving here a little over three years ago is to set a long piece of toilet paper lengthwise on either side of the toilet seat after wiping down the seat with a large wad of TP. Fellow sufferers, consider doing this in the interim before our cause succeeds (if you are not already doing so), but know that by no stretch of the imagination does this beat having actual seat covers.

What is the administration likely to say in defending the status quo? Perhaps they'll argue that good bathroom sanitation is too expensive. We have a huge endowment — we can hire the top scholars in the world, and we can certainly afford seat covers. Hey, even public schools can afford seat covers.

They might argue that not everyone feels they're necessary. Well, luckily they'd be in dispensers. The restroom in the Stephens Fitness Center contains a dispenser for feminine hygienic purposes. I certainly don't need its contents, but girls might. The point is that students should have the option to avail themselves of the seat covers.

If the administration wants to take an even more pragmatic approach, it might argue that offering more paper products creates difficulties for the janitorial staff, increasing the likelihood of littered bathroom stalls, clogged toilets, etc. While there might be a correlation between seat cover usage and clogged toilets, this is probably only a slight one. And even if this were true, the administration has already cut corners in omitting urinals — it cannot be allowed to compromise the quality of our toilet stalls (which are all we have left).

Or the administration might concede that tiptop toilet time is inseparable from the goal of improving student life. It might realize that this lone editorial belies the true volume of dissatisfaction among the student body, that those who suffer are likely the type to do so silently and that the angry and outspoken individuals who typically write letters to the editor (but have not done so on this issue) could very well be the type to 'sit' first and think later. Jeff Hsu is a Wilson School major from Arcadia, Calif. He can be reached at jhsu@princeton.edu.