Barbie has a new throne.
“The bathroom was kinda blah,”saidCharles Massey Jr., a professor in the art department, of the unisex bathroom of room 123 Haskett Hall. He initiated the decoration of this bathroom with his students.
It started in 1997, when the department moved from Hopkins Hall to Haskett Hall.
Barbie became the theme because he had catalogues for his aunt who collects Barbie.
Thus, the “Barbie Bathroom” was created.
Entering the bathroom it looks similar to any other bathroom around campus.
When the door swings open, it is a whole other world.
Three of the four walls are pink, the other is light blue. There are different sized posters and pictures of Barbie in various roles of her life.
A 360 degree turn is not enough to absorb the full magnitude of this bathroom.
There is a full-length mirror on the left wall with Barbie stickers around the top.
“There’s a Barbie kite,” said Katherine Beaumont, a senior in finance, at her first visit to this bathroom.
In the back corner, behind the door hangs a Barbie kite from the ceiling and the wall.
Massey said through the years people would add to it, leave notes and comment during classes. With every year there are new people with new rounds of questions and comments.
“Males are a little anxious about it, and females thought it was brave,” he said.
In addition to the wall and mirror, there are two wooden chairs with names branded into the back of each one. The light pink says “Barbie’s” and the light blue says “Ken’s.”
“Well, my first impression was, ‘am I in the right room?’,” said Cerina Bauer, a sophomore in visual communication.
Bauer walks past this bathroom every day for and takes the time to look around, and noticed someone did an article for a magazine comparing Hollywood couples to Barbie and Ken.
“It’s cool, a wide representation of different eras, types and roles,” Beaumont said.
Some other common responses from students are they feel strange going in there and they don’t believe it when they see it, Massey said.
Along with adding to this display, people have also taken away from it.
“(We) had a Barbie clock, it disappeared,” Massey said.
Another person took part of a purple lunchbox. The lunchbox sits on the table next to the sink along with a newspaper article and more pictures.
Through the years more and more has been added by students, janitors, and anyone who feels inclined to do so.
“(I) almost feel compelled to add to it,” Bauer said.
