Students living on MSU’s main campus won’t be the only ones having to work a little harder to get a workout this semester.
Spartan Village Apartments residents also will have to go without fitness centers because of recent safety concerns, which some are finding to be especially inconvenient given the nature of the complex — it’s somewhat far from campus and often is utilized by graduate students.
“A lot of those students are graduate students or students with families,” Council of Graduate Students President Stefan Fletcher said. “It can be difficult for them to travel too far from home.”
The closure of fitness centers in the residence halls was announced at a Residence Halls Association meeting in September.
Safety issues found during a risk assessment were cited as reasons for closing the residence hall fitness centers as well as the Spartan Village fitness center.
“Residence Education and Housing Services has made a commitment to do everything that we can to ensure the safety and security of every resident that lives in our buildings, and we take that commitment seriously,” said Ashley Chaney, assistant director of communications for Residence Education and Housing Services, or REHS, in an email.
She said Spartan Village residents can expect the center to reopen under REHS management and a new fitness center model in January 2013, along with the dorm fitness centers.
In a previous interview, Chaney said the centers were considered a risk because they are isolated and students would be unable to get help in an emergency.
RHA President Kelcey Gapske said in a previous interview the dangerous use of out-of-date equipment and free weights also caused the closure.
However, some Spartan Village residents are upset with the closure and confused by the reasons behind it.
“I didn’t see anything wrong (with the facilities),” said Baseer Awan, a graduate student who lives in Spartan Village. “Everything was going perfect.”
Awan said those who run the center at Spartan Village told him they did not know of any immediate safety concerns. He said he will be interested to see what improvements will be made after months of work on the fitness center.
Chaney said during the closure, residents can make use of exercise classes available in Spartan Village and in the residence halls, as well as other fitness activities on campus through IM Sports facilities.
Awan said the classes are nice to have but they might not replace exercise students could get from the center.
Residents also expressed concern regarding the accessibility of gyms near the apartment complex.
“We do not really have a walking-distance fitness center nearby,” doctoral student Brock Humphries said in an email.
He said with winter approaching the closure is particularly inconvenient because running outside is less “enticing.”
“With the fitness center closing, it limits what people in Spartan Village can do,” Humphries said. “I think it affects us in Spartan Village a bit more than those in the dorm rooms.”
Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
