EAST LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Michigan State University (MSU) has officially upgraded its Honors College housing – and downgraded bathroom privacy. According to a Bridge Michigan report, the nearly century-old Campbell Hall reopened this fall after a $37.1 million renovation, complete with shiny new windows, cozy study areas, and unisex community bathrooms.
For the first time in school history – and possibly in the entire state – college students of both sexes will share community bathrooms in their dorm. Picture a row of closed, lockable stalls and showers but with a single open sink area for everyone – all 4,500 students.
Progress looks different in a towel.
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Yes, students will be strolling through common areas wrapped in towels. What may have seemed progressive in theory quickly turned awkward in practice, as parents began sending emails to the school about the bathrooms. One wrote to MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz, worried about towel- clad teens crossing paths at shared sinks – hardly the kind of “honor” anyone envisioned for the honors dorm.
MSU Assistant Vice President for Residence Education and Housing Services, Ray Gasser, told parents the university is now considering adding some gender-designated bathrooms after “feedback.” Originally, when the project was approved, the wording of the change said they were going to “modernize community bathrooms.”
MSU spokesperson Kat Cooper told Michigan News Source about the situation, “Students have expressed a desire for bathroom facilities that offer them more individual privacy, much like those found in their homes or apartments, and that’s the direction we’ve moved towards in Campbell Hall. Our team is highly responsive to the feedback of our residents, and we will continue to adjust based on the needs of the community we serve. The goal is to provide the flexibility and privacy needed by each resident. Each floor also has a comprehensive single restroom to accommodate varying needs.”
Trustee Mike Balow addressed the issue by saying, “It’s important for young men and women at MSU to have the choice of privacy from the opposite sex when getting out of the shower and getting ready at the sink.”
“It’s not like it’s weird or anything.”
Some students aren’t fazed. Freshman Tyler Nguyen, 18, told Bridge Michigan, “It’s not like it’s weird or anything,” while classmate Adeline Loftis, 17, said she barely notices. But not everyone is so nonchalant – especially off-campus parents wondering who thought communal post-shower bonding was a bright idea.
Modern luxury or awkward experiment?
The “pod-style” bathrooms are apparently the new frontier of campus living, at least according to Kathy Hobgood, president of the Association of College and University Housing Officers International.
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She told Bridge Michigan, “It’s sort of like at home, because everything you need is behind that closed, lockable door and you can’t see over or under a partition.” What she left out of the homey comparison, of course, is that most people don’t share their home bathroom suite with a few dozen coeds – or even their father and brothers.
Critics see changes like this as social engineering disguised as inclusivity; parents and students who aren’t afraid to speak up just call it awkward. Either way, the residents of Campbell Hall are getting more than an education – they’re earning an advanced degree in bathroom diplomacy.
