This is a response to the Feb. 21 Our View, titled “Don’t Vote- at least not for the Rec Center”, which was devoted to the misguided information presented to Cal State Long Beach students on the proposed Recreation Center.
Students at Long Beach State have been given the opportunity to vote for this new center in the upcoming referendum. If built, this facility will be one of the most outstanding structures of its kind across America. CSULB will be at the forefront in leading the way for a multifaceted approach in student health and wellness. Not only that, but many jobs will be created as the center is for students and also run by students. The Rec Center is the first step to making campus life more accessible and friendlier to everyone. It will develop a new sense of community on campus that for so long we have lacked.
Once built, students will be free to use the center as they please, with no added monthly costs to the $110 which is to be included in fees. I’m not sure what the going rate for gym memberships are, but a brand new facility that costs less than $10 a month sounds like an amazing deal to me. I’m sure there are those of you out there who are also thinking “So what, I’m not going to be here to use the center anyway.”
Well, there is a major reason to care. If this building project goes ahead, the prestige of CSULB will expand tremendously. LBSU will be on the map and in the public eye. This status boost will affect your degree. People will know about CSULB and recognize where you are from. If this new center can increase the value of my degree upon graduation for free, and all I have to do is vote “yes” for the rec center, I say bring on the polling booths and I’m dragging everyone I know along with me.
Overall, I feel there are more advantages to the rec center than anything else, yet voting is still a personal decision. For more information, check out the proposal for yourself at studentrecandwellnesscenter.com and be sure to make your voice heard by voting on Feb. 27 or 28.
– Stephanie Bengson, member of the 49er women’s tennis team
Recently, there have been several articles regarding the Student Wellness Center in the Daily Forty-Niner. I would like to express my gratitude toward those who have voiced opposition. This is not the first time that the center has been proposed. During my term as a student senator in ’02 we voted the proposal down. The management continues to believe that this is a good idea regardless of student interest and as a result has proposed this center several times over the last decade. I believe that this is an attempt to increase the budget for the student union and increase the facilities for the athletics department.
Furthermore, we already have a gym on campus, Frogs Club One, and they charge roughly the same fee as what would be expected of all students to pay. Only a third of the members are even students. The cost of marketing and promoting this gym is clearly an inappropriate expenditure of our current student union fee’s.
Lastly, I would like to point out that a fee is a charge for a service received. If we do not receive a service, then it is actually just an increase in tuition and should be regarded as such. By calling this a fee and not tuition, student aid grants do not cover the additional cost. Therefore, it will be argued that students who opt not to receive services of the gym not be charge a fee.
It should be obvious enough just by looking at the massive amount of cars that come in and out of campus that we are and will continue to be a commuter school. If the student union management wants a better gym than what we already have, it should propose to allow a private firm to create one on campus. They already receive funds for lease space from a number of other businesses. Why not a gym? This is a futile attempt at improving the dilapidated campus facilities without using school funds. I am voting no and urging my fellow students to do the same.
Thank you for your efforts and please continue to voice the opinion of the student.
– Danny Sherman, former Senate member for the College of Business Administration and junior finance major
