Human beings have basic needs, and on a college campus, it may be easy to assume leaders would do their best to allow students to meet these needs without disruption.

However, when it comes to hygiene, particularly washing clothes, it seems Pitt-Johnstown housing officials fail to provide their students with the necessary means to fulfill these needs.

Several students expressed disgust over the current laundry room setup, saying there simply aren’t enough machines, and wait times for machines can sometimes be unbearable.

With a student body of nearly 3,000 students, each paying to attend, it doesn’t seem a 3-credit course in washing machines would be needed to calculate an adequate number of washing machines.

Several students said they sometimes wake as early as 6 a.m. to do their laundry because it’s the only time they can do so without a hassle.

Students should not be forced to plan their days around times when they believe the laundry room will be less crowded.

Though the inability to find available machines can be frustrating enough, it seems the low number of machines also has created conflict among students.

These incidents, usually initiated by one student removing another’s clothing from a machine, can cause rifts in potential friendships and further delays the laundry process.

Students should realize this lack of cooperation and civility only further complicates the situation.

A college campus is historically an institution where students come together to form a collective group aimed toward higher education, and basic needs should be met while doing so.

Is higher education planning a time when laundry can be successfully completed?

By not cooperating in the laundry room, the campus sense of community is damaged.

We should try to put frustrations aside to work through the problems.

Meanwhile, officials should assure an adequate number of working washing machines.