ASMSU members decided this week to put money from its $600,000 risk management account to use.
The undergraduate student government passed a bill to give IM Sports-West up to $50,000 to help pay for new exercise equipment.
The IM West center is being renovated and is expected to open during the summer, Intramural Sports Director Lawrence Sierra said. The renovations to the facility total $5.5 million, he said.
Student Assembly Chairperson Andrew Schepers said assembly members want to better the university for students.
A portion of the bill stated one of the Student Assembly's roles is "to help improve the quality of life of the undergraduate students."
"This is going to be cool, students will benefit from this," Schepers said. "This a true example of students helping out students."
Schepers said it's really unfortunate the university does not have a more prominent role in helping fund the center's renovations.
"There is more to education than being in a classroom," he said. "Look at other Big Ten universities' intramural centers - they're light years ahead of us."
Sierra said he appreciates ASMSU's assistance because the student government has worked on the IM West renovations since 1999.
"They're the prime movers of all of this," he said. "We were short some dollars and ASMSU wanted to help enhance (the facility) for students' use."
Sierra said the center will be full of state-of-the-art machinery and students can expect 13,000 square feet of exercise space. That means more than $300,000 in equipment.
Sierra said he anticipates student membership costs will be less than fitness centers in the general area and although it's still in development, memberships should be about $75 per semester.
The two-level facility will have a skylight centerpiece, with the first floor dedicated to heavy weights and adjustable equipment. The second floor will hold cardiovascular equipment and a stretching area, Sierra said.
He added that the new IM West will be equipped with 60 monitors attached to machines.
"That's what's in," he said. "It's been proven that having these screens increases the workout."
Student Assembly's Internal Vice Chairperson Patricia Smith said ASMSU dollars will not fund the screens and she expects the monitors will cause machine-usage problems.
"People will stay on the machines longer than 30 minutes," she said. "If you have to go during the peak hours when good television shows are on, it'll be hard to get on a machine."
