Last year the varsity locker rooms were abysmal. Now, $2.7 million later they finally fit standards for varsity athletes. AU Athletics did a great job by varsity athletes in renovating the lockers, but they neglected the needs of all other gym users.
Hundreds of people use the Bender lockers each week, most of them are not varsity athletes. As part of the renovation, the size of the public lockers were cut. Many people have to use these locker rooms, including students, faculty, alumni, children taking swim lessons or intramural and club athletes. These locker rooms are always busy, so the decrease in space has a huge potential to cause conflicts between these groups and the University.
The renovations to the varsity locker rooms were definitely warranted. Before the renovations many complained about that disgusting state of the lockers. The University was also able to complete the project in a short amount of time, which is monumental. It is not often that our University can see a problem and fix it within the span of four months.
However, the University should be prepared for a push back from the non-varsity AU community. This is not the first time that space has been taken away from the club and intramural athletes. Last semester, as part of the campus plan, club and intramural athletes lost the ability to use the field space at Tenley campus.
Space continues to be cut for non-varsity students this semester. In the Jacobs Fitness Center non-varsity athletes are no longer allowed to to use the lifting room. A petition to get this room back has been circling around AU’s intramural and club athletes.
Taking the what little space non-varsity athletes have left is sure to cause conflict. Students will become upset when they find that there is no space for their gym clothes because high school swim students took all of the lockers.
AU Athletics better be prepared for complaints, because they are bound to come. – E
edpage@theeagleonline.com
