Your class just ended, and you feel a bad feeling in your stomach. You have to use the bathroom, and you don’t have the time to make it home. This means one thing: you must use a public restroom. What a horror! With so many options to choose from, which bathroom is a good option? Which bathroom will give you a nice moment to breathe and put the rest in restroom, and which bathroom has the chance to ruin your day? Here I plan to rank every single publicly available bathroom (within reason) on campus, and try to help you know where to go when you got to go.
If you need a map because there is a building you have not heard of or don’t recognize, SWOSU has an interactive map here.
(Disclaimer: I am a man, therefore I can only write about the men’s bathrooms on campus. This article is very much directed at the men’s bathrooms around campus. Maybe the women’s bathrooms are identical, maybe they are all better, maybe they are all worse. I literally could not know, so sorry ladies, wait for the follow-up article).
Rankin-Williams
There is only one easily publicly available bathroom at Rankin.
The Rankin-Williams Lobby Bathroom: I have used the bathroom here several times, as it is along my walk to my classes. Is it functional? Sure. But, it is ridiculously hot and stuffy in there, it is crowded, and for some strange reason the mirrors are in front of the stalls and not above the sinks. 4/10 Not ADA Accessible
Old Science
There is one bathroom per floor at the Old Science Building.
Old Science 3rd Floor: There are two small single-use unisex bathrooms on the third floor of Old Science. They are ridiculously tiny, and while the privacy is nice, the lack of space is nearly claustrophobic. I am not one to pretend I am not a big guy, but I literally can’t walk straight through the doorway into them without my shoulders getting blocked. 5/10 Not ADA Accessible
Old Science 2nd Floor: A nice bathroom. Pretty standard as bathrooms go, but plenty of space, good lighting and temperature control, even a table to set a bag on if needed. Really puts the rest in restroom. 9/10 ADA Accessible
Old Science 1st Floor: A very open bathroom, which is nice. A good number of urinals and stalls too, allowing space if multiple people need a bathroom at the same time. That being said, there are no dividers on the urinals and there is not a stall door for one of the toilets, making one toilet essentially useless. 6/10, Not ADA Accessible
Campbell
There is one bathroom per floor at Campbell.
Campbell 1st Floor: An alright enough bathroom, it’s pretty middle of the pack for a bathroom. Pretty similar in design to Campbell’s 2nd and 3rd floors, but different enough I couldn’t include it. Not a great bathroom, not a horrible bathroom. 6/10 Not ADA Accessible
Campbell 2nd & 3rd Floor: These bathrooms are nearly identical. The only difference is you can tell the 2nd floor receives more use due to its more convenient location. Similarly to the first floor, these are far from my favorites across campus, but not bad bathrooms in a pinch. 6/10 ADA Accessible
Art
The Art Building has one publicly available bathroom.
The bathroom at the Art Building is not great. For starters, this building with four floors only has this singular men’s room. This bathroom is also a single-use bathroom, meaning if multiple men need a bathroom during the ten minute break between classes, then they better be quick or whoever was second better be alright with being late. One of the most frustrating parts is that it was never meant to be a single-use bathroom. It has two urinals, two sinks, and one toilet. The toilet just doesn’t have a stall. Even the nice temperatures of the bathroom and the convenient table a backpack can be placed on can’t save that. It is a nice private experience, but that makes one man’s relief another man’s roadblock. 6/10 Not ADA Accessible.
Chemistry, Pharmacy, Physics
The CPP Building has six bathrooms, one on the first floor, three on the second, and two on the third floor. For clarity, the bathrooms will be divided by the cardinal direction of the section of CPP.
CPP 1st and 2nd Floors North Wing: Perfectly nice bathrooms. They are, I think, entirely identical. Great lighting, spacious, nothing negative to say about these aside from the fact that these are not ADA Accessible. 7/10
CPP 2nd and 3rd Floor Corner Bathrooms: Again, nice bathrooms, I like them. These bathrooms are good, just not great bathrooms. I will say I slightly prefer the 3rd floor as it has hooks for backpacks outside the stall and the 2nd floor does not, but aside from that these bathrooms are identical. 7/10 ADA Accessible
CPP 2nd Floor East Wing: This was the only bathroom that I received a statement from a student on. Landry Freeman said, “Of all the bathrooms on campus, I’ve used many, and the best men’s bathroom is the small bathroom on the second floor of CPP. Secluded, single stall, only problem is that it is not noise canceling at all. But when no one else is around, it is great.” I couldn’t argue with a thing Landry said, this is a very well hidden secret haven. That being said, while it is nice for privacy, it is a bit tiny and poorly lit for my taste. But that is why I encourage students to check out these bathrooms for themselves, discover their own opinions, everyone likes different aspects of bathrooms. As for my opinion, 6/10 Not ADA Accessible
Hays Administration Building
There are two bathrooms in HAB, one on the second floor, and one in the basement.
HAB Basement: The basement bathrooms are a nice secret sanctum most don’t know about (sorry to all the big fans of this hidden sanctuary for revealing it to the world). Quiet, not too big, maybe slightly too small. But due to its hidden nature, it is never busy. 9/10 Not ADA Accessible
HAB 2nd Floor: Given that this is the bathroom most easily available for all the SWOSU higher-ups, you can expect it to be nice. However, it is really nice. Tasteful decoration, spacious, comfy, it even is ADA Accessible. Perhaps the nicest bathroom on campus. 10/10
Pharmacy II/Walter D. Strother
Pharmacy II has only one publicly available bathroom.
Pharmacy II Second Floor: This bathroom is not wonderful. It is dimly lit, a little small. But a lot of its problem is it just doesn’t feel great. I felt uncomfortable while I was there, even though I was only there for a moment. Functionality is really important, but so is the vibe. Even though this is a functional bathroom, the vibe was way off. 5/10 ADA Accessible
Belle Barker
There is only one unisex bathroom in the Belle Barker building.
Often, there is a trade-off with single-use bathrooms; they are nice but can cause an issue for others in need of a restroom. That being said, for a building as small as Belle Barker, this single-use restroom was nice and didn’t feel problematic. It was spacious, well lit, it even had a tampon/maxi pad dispenser. A bathroom small enough to feel quaint but large enough to be comfy and be ADA Accessible. The only part I didn’t love was the weird looks I got from all the people, staff and students, well aware I did not belong in that building as I walked directly into the bathroom and right back out. 9/10
Parker Building
There are currently 2 publicly available bathrooms in Parker. I was unable to access the 3rd floor restrooms due to the current construction under progress.
The two men’s bathrooms in Parker are quite nice. Open, ADA Accessible, and nicely styled. How a bathroom looks is a want more than a need, but I wish more bathrooms on campus had the little bit of flair that these two do. These bathrooms are great, 8/10
Stafford Building
The Stafford Building has three bathrooms, one per floor.
While Stafford has three separate bathrooms, they are all identical in structure and quality. They are all decently sized, with enough room for several people to be in one during the breaks events held in Stafford often have. They also just have a good vibe within them due to the colors within the walls. The only problem I would say that may affect some is their dim lighting, which I find comfy but I also am not often in need of great lighting. If anyone were to be focused on touching up their hair or makeup though, I could see some difficulty. 8/10 ADA Accessible
Pioneer Event Center
There are two identical bathrooms in the PEC.
The bathrooms here are classic arena-style bathrooms. Made to handle large groups, not designed to be too comfortable, rather to get people in and out quickly. They’re not bad, but they are clearly designed to be used quickly, regardless of if you can go quickly. 7/10 ADA Accessible
Student Union Building
The Student Union has two publicly available bathrooms, one per floor.
The Student Union bathrooms are identical, so I will be putting them together. They are nice and large, which makes sense for bathrooms used in the main building students will be in aside from their dorms. They are fairly typical bathrooms designed for someone to probably be in them at any given moment, but I think they are a step above many similar bathrooms. The colors are nice, the vibes are nice, but there is one glaring issue. They are as far as possible from the grill seating. I am not saying I am too lazy to walk across the Student Union, but I am saying I get frustrated when I have to walk so far. Aside from that, they are good bathrooms. 8/10 ADA Accessible
Al Harris Library
The Al Harris Library has four publicly available bathrooms, two on the 1st and 2nd floors.
1st Floor Men’s Room: This bathroom is not great, but it is okay. I don’t hate it, but I would not argue it is good either. It has decent space, and the lights are a bit dimmer than is nice, but not much of note aside from that. 6/10 Not ADA Accessible
1st Floor Family Bathroom: I appreciate this bathroom even though it is not intended for most people to use. It is designed to be ADA Accessible and to help families. These two bathrooms are unisex and designed for everyone to use. It has a baby-changing station, it has a tampon and maxi pad dispenser, and it is overall designed for anyone with young children. I appreciate that this bathroom is available for those who need it. 8/10
2nd Floor Library Bathrooms: These two I really dislike. Not because the bathrooms are bad, they aren’t horrible. They are strikingly similar to the men’s room on the 1st floor. The thing that really bothers me is that both of these bathrooms advertise themselves as wheelchair accessible bathrooms, but do not fit ADA requirements. I can’t say how difficult it would be to use these bathrooms as a wheelchair user, as I am not one. However, for this article I have learned about ADA requirements and these two bathrooms don’t fit them. This is unacceptable. It is dishonest and plain wrong to advertise your bathrooms to students as ADA accessible when they aren’t. The stalls are normal sized and do not have the 60-inch turning space they are supposed to, and they do not have the grab bars next to the toilets that are required. I think there should already be more ADA Accessible bathrooms on campus than there currently are, but the audacity to promote a non ADA Accessible bathroom by posting the International Symbol of Accessibility without that being true is ridiculous and upsetting.
Education Building
The Education Building has one bathroom on the first floor, one in the basement, and none on the second floor.
Ed. Basement: The basement bathroom of this building is strange. I very much felt like I had discovered a bathroom I was not supposed to discover. It was spotless, one of the cleanest bathrooms I have seen across campus, but I had to walk through a cluttered basement to get there. But still, a weirdly nice bathroom. The strange vibes of this bathroom knock it down a peg, but as a bathroom it is a really good one I would go back to. 8/10, not ADA Accessible
First Floor Ed.: This is one of the swankiest bathrooms across campus. The vibes are on point, it’s nice and spacious, it even has two ADA stalls, something I don’t recall seeing elsewhere. There are chairs, the stalls even have a nice design to them. This feels like a bathroom out of a historic hotel more than a bathroom from a college. My singular complaint is the water pressure was so high I walked out of the bathroom with a soaking wet shirt from the sink. 9/10
Hilltop Theatre
The Hilltop Theatre has only one publicly available bathroom.
The lobby bathroom at the Hilltop Theatre is a nice bathroom. It is a relatively decent size, big enough that it never feels tight, even when a few people are in there. It is also very well lit and has a nice cool temperature. I don’t have a ton to say about it, but sometimes that is a good thing. 8/10 ADA Accessible
Technology Brick
There is one single-use bathroom in Technology Brick.
This bathroom is a pretty standard single-use bathroom. Rather small, but nothing wrong with it either. It has good enough lighting and temperature. It isn’t a great bathroom, but it is far from a bad one. 6/10 ADA Accessible
Technology Stone
There are two bathrooms in Technology Stone, one on each floor.
TS Lower Floor: The lower floor bathroom is not great. Another single-use, this bathroom is very cramped, with weirdly bad lighting and not a lot else to offer. It is a seemingly totally functional bathroom, but not one I would prefer. 4/10 Not ADA Accessible
TS First Floor: This bathroom is significantly nicer than the other one in this building. It feels fancy and nice, it is very spacious, it has a good design, it’s very well lit, it’s the whole package. I would put this among some of the best across campus. 9/10 ADA Accessible
Fine Arts Center
There is only one publicly available bathroom in the Fine Arts Center.
FAC Lobby: This is clearly a bathroom designed for a multitude of people, full of stalls and a design putting the sinks very separated from the stalls. It is nice, and an added benefit is at any given moment you can hear music being played from someone somewhere, and I love that. It makes a large and busy bathroom very relaxing. 9/10 ADA Accessible
Wellness Center
The Wellness Center has two publicly available bathrooms.
First Floor Wellness: This is another example of a good large bathroom. Plenty of space for plenty of people. Nothing super special, nothing really bad, it is just a pretty good bathroom. That being said, I am only a man and there is one feature here I have not noticed elsewhere I am a fan of. These urinals have small targets in them in the spots that are least likely to have splashback. This is a fun momentary way to keep bathrooms cleaner, and I appreciate this small detail. 7/10 ADA Accessible
Second Floor Wellness: This is another classic bathroom. I have no real complaints, the bathroom is spacious, very clean, I just feel bored here. Another good bathroom. 7/10 ADA Accessible
Alma Mater Merc
There are two unisex bathrooms around the corner from the Merc.
Many probably have missed these bathrooms, as they are around a corner and decently hidden from the public, but you can access them from directly outside the Merc. These unisex bathrooms are nice for small unisex bathrooms. Not too big, not as small as other bathrooms on this list. Overall, pretty standard bathrooms. 7/10 ADA Accessible.
Music Hall
The BMH has two publicly available bathrooms.
BMH South: The first accessible bathroom you’ll find here, it is just lovely. There are nice tile designs, the sinks are unique and fun, and the bathroom is just very cozy. Plus the added bonus of the chance of a beautiful choir singing across the hall, this is one of the only bathrooms across campus I am jealous I am not nearby. 10/10 ADA Accessible
BMH North: The second bathroom you can find if you walk further back into the building, this one is the most bathroomy bathroom I have ever been in. It is spotless, so clean it almost hurts. It has a nice setup, and it is ADA Accessible. I don’t love it, but I also have almost nothing negative to say about it. It is just a very sterile restroom. 8/10 ADA Accessible
Bonus: Hodge Center
I was able to get a look at the newest bathrooms on campus in the under-construction Hodge Center, and while I won’t be giving them an official rating as I am not sure how many there are and they were not entirely complete, I would like to speculate. The downstairs bathroom I checked out was nice, spacious, and I imagine it will be a nice space once it is completed. The upstairs bathroom is very nice, and I hope I get the opportunity to check it out again after the Hodge Center is completed. Another nice spacious area, this time with a nice window that allows privacy with a great view. They both seemed like they will be ADA Accessible, but I am not 100% sure of that. Overall, our pharmacy students will be gaining another nice space for bathroom usage.
Conclusion
The bathrooms on campus are often good enough. There are a few genuinely pitiful bathrooms, and there are a few genuinely nice bathrooms, but most of them around campus fit somewhere in between the two. However, learning how many bathrooms around campus are completely inaccessible to any student requiring an ADA Accessible bathroom is very disappointing. There are multiple entire buildings that are useless to any student with a handicap.
As students, I think we should expect better than some of what we receive. Why are some bathrooms in very populated buildings worth avoiding? Why are some bathrooms given more care than others? I don’t have a good answer for you, but I think it is a question worth asking SWOSU. All I know is I hope that you can use this guide to find a better place to go when you need to go.
Did I miss your favorite bathroom? Do you radically disagree with one of my ratings? Both of these are very possible and if either of them is true please leave a comment below sharing your thoughts!
