Emergencies vary in gravity, one of the worst being needing to answer nature’s call and succumbing to a more than displeasurable bathroom. The best seat on campus can’t be stumbled upon by accident but requires dedicated exploration and open-mindedness. Taking over twenty of the University of California, Riverside (UCR) women’s bathrooms into account, the following list ranks fifteen of those bathrooms from best to worst.
Watkins
If a princess was a bathroom. Written by a woman, this pink-tiled dreamscape of a bathroom is blessed with every perfect element made to make every one of its guests feel ready to confront their hallway crush or ace their biochemistry exam! Painful to expose but too good to gatekeep, Watkins first floor women’s bathroom is UCR’s best bathroom! Upon entering this fantasy, you’re greeted with an entire subsection of the bathroom dedicated to anything from a lipstick touch-up or even a quick checkout. Lining the walls are mirrors (a full-length one, too), a counter space, hooks and sinks with lots of soap and paper towels. The back section of the bathroom features a lineup of stalls readily stalked with any needed essentials. Overall, this bathroom works as the perfect opportunity to be your best you of the day with the reliability of its aesthetic design and thoughtful functionality!
Bourns College of Engineering
Dominate a predominantly male space academically and personally! UCR’s Bourns College of Engineering’s male-to-female ratio is roughly 76% male to 24% female, marking it as a male-dominated space. However, this makes for the perfect opportunity to take advantage of this stat and enjoy the luxury of an uninterrupted visit to every one of their women’s bathrooms. With the promise of every bathroom being spotless, stocked and no queue awaiting you, this makes for the perfect bathroom to take spot two on the list.
Physics Lab Building
Great time to ditch experiment number two to go number two. Stern focus, tedious lab procedures and the nerves of messing up can easily brew up a surprise during the three-hour lab period. Luckily, the first-floor women’s restroom in the physics lab building gives you a choice of privacy or a chance for just a quick pit stop. The bathroom features both a private restroom equipped with a mirror wall and bathroom essentials, while the other subsection features a bathroom lined with stalls, two sinks, a mirror and counter space. Between the two, the private bathroom is a definite luxury while the stall bathroom makes for a viable option for a quick bathroom visit. The best of both worlds awaits you in the lab building for any restroom endeavor that accommodates your personal needs.
Biomedical Sciences – Webber and Boyce Hall
Lonely, vintage and straight out of the backrooms. The Biomedical Sciences building, made up of Webber and Boyce Hall, gives you a plethora of women’s bathrooms to choose from, with the promise of never expecting any company and an antique feel for the indie folk. You won’t run into anyone and you likely never will, but this is only a sign of great opportunity. While the empty halls and the strange electric humming following you around are a cause for discomfort, the maximum privacy and dim lighting coming from the bathroom windows make for a pleasant “go” on the go.
The Highlander Union Building (HUB) Third Floor
One word, “big.” Mentioned more than once on this list, the HUB is a hit or miss; this is one you’d not want to miss. Found on the third floor of the HUB building, this bathroom is almost always overlooked for its location. However, its ability to accommodate the size of the student population with the insane amount of stalls makes it one of the best bathrooms on campus. Its location in the heart of the school guarantees a bathroom visit that doesn’t come with the discomfort of a crowd being around for your intimate moments. In addition to the plethora of stalls, the plethora of sinks and feminine products helps anyone looking to relieve an emergency or need a spare or two in their backpack!
Rivera Library
If “vintage, so adorable” was a bathroom. Being one of the first buildings on UCR’s campus, Rivera Library is a beloved piece of history. Its age makes for a graceful collection of books and is excellent for any student’s studying endeavors. Its charm is not only reserved for its books and study rooms but also its bathrooms. Rivera Library’s first-floor women’s bathroom greets you with soft, dim yellow lighting, transforming you back to the beginning days of campus. While this bathroom isn’t much to rave about, its warm welcome accompanied by the quiet and calm nature makes for a peaceful bathroom visit that is highly recommended!
Entomology Museum
Overlooked for its distance, undermined for its creepy crawly contents. Out of the way of most people’s regular walking commute to class, UCR’s Entomology Museum is one of the two private bathrooms mentioned on this list and one of the best. Despite its distance from the campus’s usual rustle and bustle, the building makes for an interesting change in setting for anyone interested in exploring campus in more ways than one to number two! This private bathroom, found to the right of the main entrance, awaits you with its cleanliness, privacy and buggy aesthetic.
Sky Hall
The classic campus bathroom — nothing to complain about, nor to rave about. Located between the Academic Resource Center (ARC) building and Lecture Hall 1000, Sky Hall’s first-floor women’s bathroom is an excellent choice for anyone looking to get away from the HUB’s loudness while staying close to the action!
Geology
Distraction central turned into the greatest pit stop. The Geology building, greatly recognized for its evolutionary displays, informative mini exhibits and the overall array of science projects allows for a fun moment of exploration and discovery of a pleasant bathroom! Considering this building is a great transition between the HUB and the more science and engineering-concentrated side of campus, and vice versa, it’s a fantastic place to stop and do the “do” in the first-floor women’s bathroom!
Batchelor Hall
All the privacy you need with a guarantee of paranoia and a sudden sense of unexplained urgency. Batchelor Hall, home to the Botany and Plant Sciences Department is one of UCR’s latest project buildings going under renovation. Gutted of any student life, the never-ending halls of this four-story ghost town are riddled with missing ceilings, hissing pipes and the strange echoes of voices you can’t seem to trace. However, the nature of this caution zone, I mean construction zone, allows for the perfect opportunity to relieve yourself of any bathroom emergencies in the discomfort of silence and chilling privacy. The bathrooms themselves always promise to be stocked with restroom essentials and remain spotless on all four levels. If you’re an individual looking to tinkle without the disruption of people’s presence, Batchelor Hall guarantees maybe not peace, but solitude.
Sproul Hall
Ehhh at best. When you gotta go, Sproul Hall’s first and second-floor women’s bathrooms are something you have to succumb to eventually. Voluntarily or not, nature calls when it wants; you’d just prefer it in any other building.
Materials Science and Engineering
Busy when you need it, empty when you don’t. Housing UCR’s bigger lecture halls, the busy nature of this building makes the women’s bathroom on the first floor an unreliable choice. While there is a downtime for this bathroom, it only exists when lectures are being held. Upon their conclusion, expect a rush and influx of students to rush to the bathrooms. The sporadic character of this building should encourage a different choice of bathroom.
Student Success Center (SSC)
One of the busiest buildings on campus, with the busiest bathrooms. Being a lecturer hall behemoth of a building, and the inclusion of study areas, the SSC is a hot spot for students. Given the amazing facilities of this building, you should expect a wait time for the women’s bathrooms on all floors. Not necessarily a bad bathroom choice, but, its crowds make for an unpleasant wait and relieving experience!
Orbach Science Library
There’s got to be a science behind the nature of Orbach bathrooms. UCR’s three-story science library is a reflection of the student body’s heavy work ethic given its busy desks and occupied study rooms. However, it may not reflect bathroom etiquette very well. The lack of cleanliness of Orbach Women’s bathrooms does not come from the amazing custodians, but rather from the negligence of the students. Walking into any women’s bathroom in Orbach Library, you should expect every other stall to be occupied with the history of its previous user, missing soap and sopping paper towels occupying the counter space. These bathrooms are not a pleasant experience and remain one of the worst bathrooms on campus.
HUB Second Floor
There is a time and place where clingy works. It might not be in a relationship, but it’s definitely in the HUB’s first-floor women’s bathroom. It’s hard to imagine the stagnant and lonely nature that is bathroom culture. Feigning to answer nature’s call in isolation defeats the need for a constant someone so many people are in search of. Holding hands while using the John… forget it. However, all hope is never lost. The HUB is the rustle and bustle of UCR. Being the center of the school features not only the noise of the student body but also works to aid in replenishing any energy or hunger, leaving it to be the busiest place on campus. All these characteristics combined leaves the heart of the school to be the most susceptible to triggering any opportunity to use the loo. As the HUB is busy with life, so are its bathrooms. The HUB first floor women’s bathroom remains to be the worst bathroom on campus given its lines, busy stalls, limited sinks and lack of bathroom supplies. Shaking off a clingy attitude in this bathroom is impossible, always expect a buddy in front, left and right of you! This bathroom is often not a quick pit stop and will require more time commitment than most people are willing to give to their partners. For individuals who enjoy the extra company, stay. Otherwise, avoid this bathroom at all costs!
