While living on campus, the added stress of classes, a convenient meal plan and a lack of exercise because of study habits and long work hours can cause students to gain unnecessary weight. Although many try to exercise at least occasionally, the travel time back and forth from intramural, or IM, facilities can be inconvenient. To combat this, many residence halls opened their own workout facilities.
But recently, the university found that residence hall gyms were unsafe, causing all of them to be closed at once until January 2013. Whether or not the residence hall gyms are unsafe, the timing of this closing is unexpected, leaving many wondering why the closure was so sudden and whether it is necessary to close all of these workout facilities at the same time.
The university found, after conducting a risk assessment test, that the facilities did not meet safety requirements and must be closed down for renovations. The assessment found that these facilities were too isolated, and in the case of an emergency, students might have been unable to get help.
It also found that there was a lack of supervision in the facilities, causing safety hazards with free weights and outdated equipment.
Obviously, the safety of its students should be a top priority of any university. The dangers listed in this assessment could be fatal, and students should be able to work out in a secure environment provided by the university.
But these facilities have been open and running for years under the same conditions, so why were these problems just recently discovered, and why is it necessary to shut down the facilities all at once rather than renovating one at a time?
A lack of supervision in workout facilities easily can be fixed by hiring more employees. And adding additional exits and updating equipment are improvements that take only a few weeks for workers to complete, but they could be done one at a time rather than shutting down every facility.
Yet students who choose to return to these facilities after renovations will be greeted with new equipment and a safer workout environment provided by the Residence Education and Housing Services, or REHS, which was given the majority of the responsibility for the fitness centers by the Residence Halls Association, or RHA.
And with upgraded equipment, students might be able to work out more effectively than prior to the renovations. Many students also will feel safer with more supervision provided.
However, it still is strange that residence hall workout facilities suddenly have all been found unsafe after being open for a number of years under seemingly the same circumstances. It’s also inconvenient that they are all being shut down until January for renovations.
Before abruptly shutting down each facility, REHS should have solved the simple solutions — such as removing free weights and hiring more staff — first and then provided facility renovations one at a time rather than all at once.
The immediate closing of the gyms seems peculiar, leaving students wondering: what was the urgency of the problem? And why has the university waited this long to solve it?
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