Kelli Plasket

When prospective students visit the College on campus tours, they are often impressed by the College’s green lawns, beautiful New Library, updated academic buildings and maybe even the ever-present construction that promises new facilities to come.

Then they visit the Physical Enhancement Center (PEC), and their faces speak for themselves, according to Jason Cantor, a junior business administration major who works at the PEC.

“I feel embarrassed because a lot of the time, tour groups come into the gym,” Cantor said. “We take pride in our school, and obviously academic (facilities) take priority … but you just see (prospective students’) faces drop. The overall presentation of the gym is awful.”

Meanwhile, current students at the College often wonder why elliptical machines go un-repaired, why worn bench pads haven’t been replaced or why there aren’t more treadmills to satisfy demand.

The answer, like many of the College’s problems, is budget-related.

“We can’t buy any equipment because we don’t have any money to buy any equipment,” Deborah Simpson, director of the PEC and program director for Intramurals, Sports Clubs and Concessions, said. “It’s sad because in the world of health, we have a fitness facility that we can’t maintain, that we can’t bring up to par with the year 2008 because we don’t have the money to do it, the budget to do it.”

The PEC, the gym equipment facility in Packer Hall open to all students, operates on an $8,700 budget funded by the state to retain and repair all machines and equipment for the academic year, according to Simpson. As of the beginning of October, Simpson had approximately $5,000 left for repairs after only six weeks of school.

“Last year we spent over $9,000 and that still wasn’t enough to repair the machines that were in there,” Simpson, who just took over the 12-year-old facility this year, said. “And obviously the more that you are using the equipment, the more breakdowns occur.”

According to Barbara Wineberg, College treasurer, the shortage of funding to the PEC involves all of the athletic

facilities on campus.

“As we opened these facilities, the Athletic Recreation Center, Aquatics, athletics field, and the PEC, the anticipation was that the program and membership revenues collectively would cover the entire cost without impact on the College operating budget,” Wineberg said via e-mail. “As the years and expectations evolved, it was clear that the College would need to contribute toward that funding since revenues would never cover the increasing and justified demands from our students.”

Wineberg explained each facility has a budget that is collectively funded by all of the athletic facilities, some of which make money, while others don’t.

“The substantial shortage is funded by the College operating budget,” which includes state appropriations with a partial offset from the Student Service Fee, she said.

Simpson said the PEC is able to stay open because it has a budget for student worker hours, which also comes from the state, financial aid and work/study program.

“We were really lucky,” Simpson said. “The College gave us an increase in those hours, so we’ve been OK. We’ve closed the facility just to save on hours, so we are OK in that area.”

The maintenance and repair budget does not allow for most machines to be replaced when they permanently break or wear down from frequent use. “Many of the machines that are in there I believe are still from 1996 (when the facility opened),” Simpson said.

When a machine is no longer repairable, it is simply removed.

“There are two treadmills right now that are totally dead,” Simpson said. “Treadmills are $5,300 apiece. Treadmills are used constantly.”

New equipment funding requests from the athletic budget must be made through the College’s annual budget request process, Wineberg said. She said that for this academic year, “there was an allocation approved for the replacement of treadmills. However, as with everything else, there is never enough dollars to fund all of the requests.”

Lauren Zerillo, sophomore elementary education/psychology major, uses a treadmill at the PEC about five times a week.

“It’s frustrating, the amount of treadmills (there are), and that you can only get a half hour interval before you get kicked off. (and) a lot of time, they don’t work,” she said.

Cantor and Simpson have both noticed an increase in students using the PEC this year, estimating that at least 500 students a day use the facility.

“The busiest time is usually (after) New Year’s, when everyone comes back and realizes how much weight they gained,” Cantor said, but this year, the PEC has been consistently packed with students.

“I feel like our generation is much more into fitness,” Cantor said, citing the rise in obesity rates that are making American students today more conscious of their health. He said he is surprised the College’s facilities don’t reflect that student need, especially when the quality of a college’s gym is often a selling point for potential students.

Cantor says students who transfer from other schools often complain their old school’s gym was much better. “Most schools have really nice gyms,” he said.

With the repairs budget the PEC does have, Simpson hires a maintenance worker from Fitness Central to check the machines and repair them as needed.

“(Fitness Central has) already been in here three times, and obviously the more that you are using the equipment, the more breakdowns occur,” Simpson said. She estimates this year’s budget for machine repair will run out by March, if not sooner.

“The benches’ padding (on free weight equipment), that needs to be replaced, the foam and the padding are torn. That’s going to cost $2,400,” Simpson said. “But when the money runs out, the money runs out. That’s it, we can’t fix anything else.”

None of the fees charged to students go toward these repairs at the PEC, Simpson said.

“When they said that I was going to be in charge of the facilities, I went up to do an evaluation and basically spent the past year evaluating the facility and trying to maintain it the best that I could possibly do,” Simpson said.

She said that from the evaluation, given the cost to maintain and upgrade the facility and to buy equipment, the only way these changes could happen is if students get charged a user fee.

She estimates that, ideally, the PEC would need an $80,000 budget for the first year to make necessary improvements to get the facility where it needs to be, and then $30,000 every year after that to maintain the facility and keep up with regular replacements.

“What you need to do is every couple years replace machines that have been overused and break down. There are about between 20 and 30 machines that would need to be replaced within … well, need to be replaced now,” Simpson said.

She also said she would love to expand the facility to allow for more room for equipment and add a cool-down room for students.

A survey was sent out last semester asking students if they would be willing to pay an increase in fees in their tuition bills if the money went toward PEC operating costs and equipment replacement and repair. Simpson said 83 percent of students said they would be willing, but no fee increase has been implemented yet.

Wineberg said she will keep the survey in mind as “we advance fee discussions for fiscal year 2010.”

Simpson said she has tried to fight for more funding in meetings at the College with no avail, but if the students are vocal about wanting to see changes to funding to the PEC, they can make a difference.

“The only way that anything is going to happen is if the students speak,” Simpson said. “The College will only listen to the students and that is what we are here for, we are here for you guys … Large numbers will make people look around and think and make changes.”