ASU students may soon be working out in a whole new way.
After hearing scores of student complaints and comparing the Student Recreation Complex's facilities with those of other universities, SRC President Howard Taylor and an executive committee of ASASU decided to consider expanding or renovating the center within the next year or two.
Much of the decision will hinge on a Web-based survey asking students how they feel about current workout conditions and what might be done to better them. The survey is at http://facilityplanners.com/survey/asu/rec and will be available to take until May 5.
Mike Leingang, ASU's student body president, is on the executive committee discussing the expansion.
He said, "From personal experience, I'm frustrated at times because when I work out, I have to wait for a machine."
Taylor said he has heard complaints like this from students for years.
"Students are constantly complaining that they want more treadmills, more weight training equipment and more room," he said. "That's why the survey is so important. It's one thing for to me say they are complaining. It's another to be able to quantify it."
Taylor said students have to wait in line for equipment because there is not enough room for everyone to work out when they want to. In comparison to other large universities, the SRC is small and under-equipped, he added.
Brailsford and Dunlavey, a facility planning and project execution company, conducted a feasibility study that compared the SRC's space per student to that of other universities.
While most large universities have 10 square feet available per student, the 135,000 square-foot SRC has only three. Taylor also said most universities offer between 8-13 square feet per student.
"The square feet per student is well under the recommended amount," he added. "Our space is a third of the space at other universities. When you factor in issues of expanding and housing, if something is not done, recreation and fitness opportunities are going to be even more taxed than they are now."
Leingang agreed with Taylor.
"There are a lot of students vying for space," he said. "If we don't do something soon, we're going to have a nightmare."
Taylor said that the decision to expand the SRC will depend mostly on students because it is students that will foot the bill.
Right now, students pay $25 per semester to pay off the debt that the construction of the current SRC caused. Taylor said he does not know how much that fee will increase with expansion because he does not yet know what the expansion would include.
Taylor did say that he and the committee are considering a rock-climbing wall, a MAC gym, an indoor running track and smaller aerobic gyms.
A MAC gym, or Multi-activity Gymnasium, is a bit wider and longer than a standard basketball court and, because of its synthetic floor, can be used for indoor soccer, hockey and volleyball, among others.
Kinesiology freshman Megan Brock goes to the SRC five times a week to use its cardio machines and to lift weights. She said that she would accept paying more for expansion if it were "within reason.
"If we're only paying $25 a semester, and if it's raised to maybe $30, that would be fine."
But Brock said she does not think expansion is necessary when the SRC isn't "utilizing its space.
"I know there are a lot of sit-down bikes that are really junky and old that nobody uses," she said. "They should replace them with more elliptical machines because they are a lot more popular."
Colby Swartz, secondary physical education junior and an employee of the SRC, is on the committee discussing the expansion. He said that students like Brock need to take the survey so that he and the committee will know exactly what their needs are.
"The expansion is for the students," he said. "It's not for the faculty or the staff. It's not for the alumni. What the students put on the survey is what's going to be in the expansion."
He added that as of Tuesday night, about 1,000 students had taken the survey, which was released Monday morning. He said he is hoping that they will vote in favor of expansion.
"We're trying to make ASU more of a community," he said. "We want to cut down waiting time and make them want to come to our facility. We're just waiting for the go-ahead."
Various prizes will be awarded to randomly selected students that take the survey. They include a $600 mountain bike, two MP3 players and 35 gift certificates worth $20 each to the ASU bookstore.
Amanda Lee Myers is the Editor-in-Chief of the Web Devil. Reach her at amanda.l.myers@asu.edu.
