Tough times for the tush

The quality of the toilet paper at GCSU has long been a sore point for students, but an inquiry by SGA might cause that to change in the near future.

“A decision hasn’t been made yet,” SGA President Ryan Greene said. “But we’re looking into it.”

According to Greene, a random student came into the SGA office to discuss the prospects of getting better quality toilet paper.

“They came in with a concern that the toilet paper wasn’t soft enough,” Greene said. “They requested we look into improving the toilet paper quality.”

SGA was happy to comply.

Greene began by doing some research, and the consensus seems to be that the toilet paper can sometimes be a pain-in-the-butt for those who have to use it.

“I spoke to the senate and a number of students on my own,” Greene said. “Everybody seems to be in favor. I’m not sure there’s two sides to the issue”

No butts about it, the quality of GCSU toilet paper does leave something to be desired.

The only concern involved with the change would be the expense of updating to a better quality product.

“I spoke to Ben Pratt (Director of Plant Operations) and asked if (upgrading) was a possibility,” Greene said. “He said he’d look into seeing if we can afford it. He’s seeing how much money we have to allocate to it.”

The cost incurred would come out of the Operating Budget of the University itself, not out of SGA funds.

However, the budget has been cut by the Georgia Board of Regents in the past year, so the upgrade might flush dollars down the drain that the university does not have to spare.

Plant Operations is still gathering data about the upgrade, and it should reach SGA before the end of the semester.

“We’re not sure if this will happen this year or next,” Greene said. “Pratt has been working with the company to get the current prices, and to see if other brands or upgrades are available.”

Toilet paper is made with bleached paper without not much refining, Then, in a process called creping it dries and thins the paper, making it frail enough to disintegrate in water. Single ply toilet paper is only one sheet thick, whereas softer and slightly thicker toilet paper uses two or more plys.

GCSU toilet paper is currently single ply, due to its comparative cheapness and ability to be bought in bulk.

Greene doesn’t expect that the decision will leave too many students with chapped behinds.

“The only thing that could be a concern is that SGA is spending time on this matter,” Greene said. “We’re not taking any time or attention away from other projects. This is just usual business.”

Whether the upgrade passes or not, Greene wants GCSU students and faculty to know that no request will go ignored.

“The point we want to make is that any student with a concern, even one as small as toilet paper, is welcome to come speak to us,” Greene said.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Dec 5 2008. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry