By Lauren Lochetto

The University’s five residential towers were built without restroom soap and paper towel dispensers between 1966 and 1968. Twenty-six years later most students aren’t hopeful they ever will be installed.

Given that the University has generated multiple excuses, as opposed to one single identifiable reason for the lack of soap and paper towels, students like Ruddy Harootian are left with just one conclusion: health is not a priority at Hofstra.

“I think it’s gross and an inconvenience that there is no soap, especially when we pay so much money to go here,” Harootian, a junior who lives in Alliance Hall, said.

Studies show that germs are capable of living on surfaces such as bathroom sinks and doorknobs for anywhere from 20 minutes to two hours.

“Washing hands properly is the single most effective way to prevent infections,” Center for Disease Control Spokesperson Elwin Grant said.If bathroom users don’t wash their hands with soap they are at a much higher risk of contracting, most commonly, a cold or flu-like illness. However, other serious illnesses also become more likely.

“It has been proven that the risk of obtaining Hepatitis A, Meningitis, as well as other infectious diarrhea are lessened with proper hand-washing,” Grant said.

Among the reasons the University has given for not providing students’ living quarters with this key substance is that, “the residential halls were just not built with soap and paper towel dispensers in them,” said Director of Residential Life Sheryl Betz.

Betz said the dispensers have not yet been installed due to the administration’s concern they would be vandalized. She vaguely recalled dispensers being installed on a few floors as part of an experiment aimed at determining the probability that vandalism would occur, but she could not confirm whether or not one had actually been done.

Although Betz said the reason the soap and paper towel dispensers were never installed is in no way financial, she did express concerns that additional janitorial staff would be needed if they were.

However, Efrain Carballo, a member of the janitorial staff in Estabrook Hall, disagrees. He did not see an issue regarding the installation nor would he require more pay for the additional service of refilling the dispensers. This is partially due to his concern for his own health.

“I think it’s necessary,” he said. “We put [the soap] in, no problem.”Residential Assistant, Lauren Dubuff, long since graduated, remembers when she lost hope for soap. Three years ago, backed by her soap-wanton 10th-floor residents, she addressed the administration on the issue.

“They told me that if the residents wanted soap, student council would have to pay for it,” Dubuff said.

Dubuff, who said she was appalled, did not see the logic in their suggestion.

“Why should student council have to forgo money they could use for other things on something Hofstra should automatically provide,” Dubuff said.

After giving up on the administration, Dubuff, as some other creative students have done, came up with her own temporary solution to the problem.

Enterprise Hall resident Noel Praskievicz, a senior, recalls the former R.A. and her solution.

“Lauren was my R.A. my sophomore year. At the beginning of the semester she sat us down and said, ‘there’s never any soap in the bathrooms but if everyone chips in a buck we can buy our own.’ The money ended up being enough for the entire semester,” Praskievicz said.

This year, however, Praskievicz complains no one was around to do that and no one seemed to care that there’s no soap. Consequently, she has entered the realm of the health-conscious students who resort to carrying their own soap with them to the bathroom.

“For me it’s a problem,” Praskievicz said. “I don’t always remember to bring my soap and get stuck just rinsing my hands in burning hot water to try and kill as many germs as I can.”

Roman Olesnyckyj, a health care information specialist for Johnson and Johnson, recommends not making the mistake of expecting germs that have been accumulating on hands all day to allow themselves to just be washed away by some warm water. Soap plays an important role in removing them. Regular soap attaches itself to germs and bacteria and floats them away into fast moving water and antibacterial soap actually kills germs.

“Rinsing your hands with warm water is not nearly as effective as washing with soap,” Roman said. “That’s why it’s called rinsing, not washing.”