Crowds at Mazama gym may be a little thinner this spring.
Users of Mazama gym facilities at Central Oregon Community College will be required to show ID cards with membership stickers as of April 8, 2013, according to Bill Douglass, director of clubs and intramural sports, who overlooks operations at Mazama.
Five new staff positions have been created specifically to check ID’s Douglass said. The new employees will be checking ID’s at entrances during peak usage times totaling 40-50 work hours per week. All wages will be paid for by federal funds through the work study program, according to Douglass.
The cost will remain $16 for students and $82 for non-students , according to Douglass, which includes access to the gymnasium and workout facilities.
“It’s basically a little over a dollar a week that we are charging students,” Douglass said. “Any fees we collect go right back to the building.”
Changes to the enforcement policy are due to increased gym facility usage, explained Douglass.
“The main catalyst, I think, was overuse. With the recent growth of student enrollment we were seeing more students, but also more non-students,” Douglass said. “We felt like our students were being squeezed out. Our first obligation is the students.”
Members of Student Life, Student Affairs and Health and Human Performance departments came together to discuss the issue before deciding to enforce the policy, said Gordon Price, director of Student Life.
The decision was, in part, because the increased usage was not reflected in fees received, according to Price.
“Especially in the last couple of years, we were paying out and not seeing anything in return,” Price said. “We looked at the fiscal side and tried to come up with a responsible solution.”
Adjusting to the new requirements may take time, explained Price, but in the end, the new policy will benefit students.
“Change is hard, but there is a reason behind it,” Price said. “We’re just trying to serve our students better.”
Mazama gym stickers can be purchased at the Boyle Education Center.
–Darwin Ikard
The Broadside
(contact: [email protected])
