TargetX | News - Chronicle of Higher Education

Contest Flushes Out America’s
Finest Campus Bathrooms

Colleges and universities competed recently to determine,
in the field of sinks and toilets, who's really No. 1. Or No. 2.

By Erica R. Hendry
The Chronicle of Higher Education

First impressions can be crucial to deciding on a college — even those impressions formed in the bathroom.

Nearly all prospective students and their families will end up in an admissions-office restroom when they visit a college, but not every college and university gives sinks and toilets the attention they deserve, says Trent Gilbert, who evaluates campus-visitor experiences for TargetX, a higher-ed marketing firm.

Mr. Gilbert's encounters with worn toilets and closet-size bathrooms led his company to start the TargetX Bowl — a competition to flush out America's finest campus bathrooms. The company announced the contest last month on its blog.

Colleges and universities submitted pictures of their bathrooms and any special features, including towels monogrammed with the institution's logo and shelves stocked with amenities.



	The bathroom in Birmingham-Southern College's admissions building (above), which is visited by more than a few prospective students and their families, is stocked with amenities like lotion, toothbrushes, toothpaste, mouthwash, and deodorant. (Photograph courtesy of Tyler Peterson, BSC)

Birmingham-Southern College and the University of Delaware came out on top, winning the awards for best small college and biggest university, respectively. Oklahoma Christian University, Warner Pacific College, and Hendrix College received honorable mentions.

Delaware's winning entry was in its University Visitors Center, which opened last year and serves as the admissions headquarters. It features a marble bathroom with twice as many stalls as the bathroom in the old building, which is still used for some admissions work but is not open to visitors. Bryn Campbell, the university's assistant director of admissions, says the building is more than a century old; its bathrooms have wallpaper that needs to be replaced and old linoleum floors.

Birmingham-Southern College's admissions office also occupies a relatively new building — just two years old — but it's more than new digs that makes the college's bathrooms unique, says Tyler Peterson, director of recruitment. Both the men's and women's restrooms are stocked with lotion, toothbrushes, toothpaste, mouthwash, and deodorant, among other amenities that he says make the experience more comfortable for visiting students.

“I can't say our bathroom has led to us getting more students, but we see that those products are being used pretty frequently, and that people enjoy it,” says Mr. Peterson.

“If you walk into a dirty, old bathroom, what are you going to think?” Ms. Campbell asks. “The contest exemplified that it's still the little details that matter.”