A recent JCR motion calling for “anti-pooping” in Somerville’s college library was dropped from the JCR meeting’s agenda.
According to Chloe Funnell, the second year who originally proposed the motion, this idea stemmed from the fact that there is currently only one toilet in the Somerville college library.
“Some users spend a long time in there and, as a result, waste other people’s time, not to mention their own,” Funnell told Cherwell.
She added that while she conceded her proposed motion itself was “ridiculous in some aspects”, such as the resolution of “having a stock photo of someone looking angry in the toilet”, she thought that it was reflective of the view among people in the college that “some others don’t really take into consideration other people who use the college’s facilities.
“It’s a small toilet, and when people [defecate] in there, the smell lingers, so it’s almost like an extra smack in the face when you have to wait a good ten minutes to either pee or fill up your water bottle.”
Funnell also went on to clarify that the motion does not at any point forbid anyone from using the library toilet, but that it was purely against what she calls “poopcrastination”.
“It’s more concerned with people spending an unnecessarily long time in the toilet, and leaving it messy [for other users]. People pee on the toilet seat and leave [poo] stains quite often.”
By proposing her motion, Funnell told Cherwell that she was essentially encouraging the users of the toilet to be more “conscientious” hereafter.
“Frankly, I’m sick of people’s s*it – proverbial or otherwise.”
Somerville’s outgoing JCR president Louis Mercier confirmed to Cherwell that the motion was indeed dropped, but did not comment on the reasons behind this change.
Responding to Funnell’s motion, a member of Somerville college library’s staff stated that it “[does] not have any comment, other than that [the] library toilet facilities are due to be upgraded over the summer.”
Britt Tomson, first year CAAH student at Somerville said, “I just kind of laughed it off when I first saw it. I was amused by the prospect of someone having to check and enforce it if the motion had passed”.
First year english undergraduate at Somerville Catrin Haberfield said, “I think motions like that are actually a good way to get people engaged in the JCR – it’s hard to get people to come to meetings and to even care about what we do, but I heard loads of people talk-
ing about it once the motions were sent out. Everyone knew it was kind of a joke, but at the same time a really valid point because the library only has one toilet and people ‘poopcrastinate’ in there.”
