Restrooms in El Camino College’s Schauerman Library’s East Basement have been closed for more than a month due to student smoking.

While this is a preventive measure to deter students from doing so, it hurts student accessibility, especially for individuals who have disability accommodations as the only restroom available is up the flight of stairs and across the lobby.

ECC should do more to ensure its restrooms are smoke-free, clean and accessible to all students, including by increasing maintenance and surveillance in the East Basement’s restrooms and other problematic locations, as students smoke in them even if they are closed.

The East Basement is home to the Makerspace and the Warriors Esports Center, where students have access to a variety of technological services like 3D printing, gaming desktops, virtual reality headsets and more.

Library and Learning Resources Technician II Steve Dao said there have been four to five incidents of students using the bathrooms and corridors to smoke.

While it’s not confirmed if students typically smoke marijuana, it`s allegedly both vaping and the drug.

Administration of justice major Janelly Almonte, 20, said that students are still continuing to use the spaces to smoke, underlining the ineffectiveness of the bathrooms being closed.

Lack of surveillance in the basement’s hallways and corridors also contribute to smoking being a prevalent issue in those spaces.

Director of Tutoring and Academic Support Sheryl Kunisaki confirmed that the bathrooms being closed are also due to low maintenance.

Kunisaki said that because it’s not an easily monitored location, the basement restrooms were closed to deter students elsewhere.

While Kunisaki said the bathrooms would likely be open next semester, ECC should increase surveillance in the East Basement so the situation won’t repeat itself.

Andy Potter, a student worker in the Makerspace, said that in week five of the restrooms being closed, they briefly tried to reopen when the smoking incidents kept happening, so they shut it down.

Broadly, the situation shows how ECC takes a reactive approach to limiting student smoking, rather than taking proactive measures such as by increasing surveillance or staffing to limit the issue.

“A lot of students have been complaining, especially some girls with feminine hygiene products,” Almonte said.

A part time employee in the Makerspace, Jay, who declined to provide his last name. said they have been told how to approach students who are suspected of smoking in the restrooms.

“We`ve been told by supervisors just to keep it neutral, so that way we’re not trying to accuse them of doing something… we ask for the student ID, it’s their responsibility whether they show it or not and they usually decline, so you can’t really do much,” Jay said.

Kunisaki said if it’s known who the students are that are smoking, Maxient reports are filed.

Almonte said that she just wants the bathrooms to be reopened, and The Union has the same stance.