The ratio of male and female students is almost the same, but the number of ladies’ restrooms is much less than men’s restrooms.

While restroom users complain of the unclean condition of restrooms, the cleaners of restrooms point out the unclean status of restrooms is due to students’ unclean use. Hence, it is urgent to improve the sanitary condition of restrooms.

●Restroom management
The number of restroom cleaners in Keimyung is insufficient. To solve the problem, the staff is employed under the condition of cleaning restrooms three times a day.

●Uninvited guests – smokers
Recently, smokers in restrooms are increasing non-smoking students’ discomfort. Choi Su-jin (Department of Japanese Lang. and Lit.) said, “Restrooms are public places and also sealed places. I feel so unpleasant when I smell smoke in a poorly ventilated restroom.”

Smoking in a closed building is an illegal act, and smoking in restrooms is also an illegal act. However, one of the members of the Maintenance Team said, “It’s hard to control students’ use of restrooms in so many restrooms. We hope students are more considerate of other users.”

●Universities not public facilities
On November 9, 2006, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security made it a legal obligation to increase the number of toilet stools in women’s restrooms to more than 1.5 times the number of toilet stools in men’s restrooms taking into account that women account for most restroom users.

Unfortunately, universities are not included in the category of public facilities. Im Wang-joo, an officer of the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, said, “In the case of universities, the size of the university is larger than a performance hall, but the gap in restroom users is steady compared with the concentrated number of performance hall users.”

Regarding the number of toilets in Keimyung, in Baekeun Hall, men’s restrooms have 90 toilets but women’s restrooms have 33 toilets. In Youngam Hall, men’s restrooms have 159 but women’s restrooms 57, and in the International Education Center, men’s restrooms 45 but women’s restrooms 27. From the figures, most of the buildings in Keimyung lack toilets in women’s restrooms.

Son Cheol-soo, a professor in the Faculty of Architecture said, “According to the law about public toilets, when the university designs restrooms, the number of toilets in men’s and women’s restrooms should be at least the same, taking into account the number of female students.”

●Necessary measures for worn-out facilities
There exists a problem related to the poor condition of restrooms in old buildings. Choi Eun-young, who uses Smith Hall frequently, said, “The restrooms in Smith Hall have a poor condition compared with other newly built buildings. In the case of the fifth floor of Smith Hall, the restrooms have toilets with a chain flush. I have an experience of getting my hands hurt in a Smith Hall restroom when the water pressure was low.”

Keimyung is now repairing worn out facilities. An employee in the Maintenance Team said, “In 2005, we repaired the restrooms of Baekeun Hall and Youngam Hall. This year, we don’t have definite plans for repair works yet.”

Restrooms in university are obviously public facilities in that many people use them. Hence, the university must be concerned about the improvement of its facilities and their sanitary condition, and students need to have polite etiquette when using them.