Clarification appended
Lifeguards and athletes have complained about the hygiene of both the public locker and swim team locker rooms, questioning the University on how it plans to address their concerns.
The public locker rooms in Jacobs Fitness Center are open to members of the gym, including students, faculty, alumni, children taking swim lessons or a member of the Nation's Capital Swim Club, according to the Jacobs Fitness Center’s website.
The locker rooms have bad ventilation, said Julia Von Heeringen, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences and member of the swimming and diving team.
“We [the AU swimming and diving team] have to bring fans in or else the room smells like mold,” Von Heeringen said.
While Aramark cleans the locker rooms once a day, lifeguards often find messes in the locker rooms during the day, according to Tram Le, a freshman in the School of Public Affairs and a lifeguard for the Reeves Aquatic Center.
“Water gets tracked in from the pool, so there are always puddles in there,” Le said. “People leave candy wrappers and other trash just lying around and I usually find clumps of hair in the drains.”
Lifeguards are supposed to walk through the locker rooms every 30 minutes and clean up any puddles or minor messes that are there, Morgan Munoz, aquatic coordinator and facility supervisor, said. Larger messes such as large puddles of water, dirt or mud or minor accidents are referred to Aramark, who are on call all day.
AU has put in machines that dry out swimsuits in order to avoid major puddles. Fans are brought in to increase airflow and to dry out the carpeting.
AU planning locker room changes
In October 2012, the University was in the preliminary stages of planning a remodel of the athletic locker rooms, beginning in April 2013, The Eagle previously reported.
Kelly Janos, assistant director of fitness and wellness programs, could not confirm that the University has any plans to renovate the either the swim team or public locker rooms, but said it was always possible.
Many swimmers are rejoicing about the possible renovation but are remaining skeptical, Von Heeringen said.
“The Athletic Department has promised a lot, but has done nothing,” Von Heeringen said.
Clarification: The Nation's Capital Swim Club was previously referred to by its previous name, the Curl Burke Swim Club.
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