The new academic year has brought new gym policies with it, which have become a weighted issue for many students.

The Recreation Services Department has implemented three new policies to improve the function of Archbold Gymnasium. The issues of re-racking weights, new handbooks and training for the staff will allow the average person to feel more comfortable using the facilities on campus.

Mitch Gartenberg, director of Recreation Services, is the man in charge of these policies, and he feels that they’ll be helpful to create a better department and cater to the needs of the gym’s users.

‘It’s not just aggravating but also dangerous,’ Gartenberg said. ‘Anyone can easily trip over the weights left on the floor.’

Popular weights are often used and then abandoned at gym stations where ‘dropping and walking’ occurs after the user is done, which Gartenberg said is a real issue for those who frequent the gym.

To remedy that problem, weights must now be racked once users are done with them. It’s a policy that had never been attempted before, but good results are expected.

‘There is tons of good feedback already coming in,’ said Joseph Lore, director of Club Sports and Fitness Center. ‘People are appreciating the new approaches we are taking to create a safe environment, neater facility, easy-to-find equipment and all the other things that are coming out of this.’

But some feel that the program may never work.

Paul Connors, a senior in The College of Arts and Sciences, hasn’t seen much of a change and doesn’t expect to see any.

‘I think it’s about half and half on who’s going to actually listen,’ Connors said. ‘People who are going to leave the weights are just going to leave them, rule or no rule.’

Another policy deals with a new club sports handbook that will soon be instituted in the wake of complications with the men’s club ice hockey team.

‘We had long-standing policies that weren’t written down anywhere. So when situations arose, I could say what would happen but had no paper to give them,’ Gartenberg said. ‘Now it will be much less ‘he said, she said’ and much more ‘it’s all in writing’ for me to give out.’

The department modeled its new handbook after the already existing Judicial Affairs handbook.

To ensure that the handbooks are properly enforced, a new facilitator will train all the gym staff on issues they face, staying friendly and courteous to gym patrons, and how to document incidents.

There are many negative interactions that happen at the gym desk, Gartenberg said, such as people demanding entry to the gym despite losing their IDs, or students using one another’s cards to gain entrance. But all that is going to stop, he said.

‘Take 30 seconds right now and read the back of your ID card,’ Gartenberg said. ‘All the policies are right there, and we strictly enforce them.’

When a policy like efficient card tracking is enforced, Gartenberg said, it creates a better environment along with less fighting and less damage to the building.

‘You pay a lot of money, and we want to ensure only whose who are eligible to use the facility do use it,’ Gartenberg said. ‘This is hard to do, especially when it’s a peer on the other side getting upset. It’s so much easier to become emotional than analytical.’

Students agreed that some new policies will help give the gym a more welcoming and efficient atmosphere.

‘It’s a good idea to be prepared for anything,’ said Bailey O’Keefe, an employee at the main desk and a junior nutrition major. ‘This will teach the new freshmen all they need to know, and it’s never bad to reinforce the rules for the people who have already been here.’

The new policies are already well into effect, and many gym users are waiting to see how the school will handle them.

‘The whole issue here is health and safety,’ Gartenberg said. ‘I want to increase both those aspects for all our users, students, faculty and staff, and I think these new policies will do just that.’

Published on September 2, 2004 at 12:00 pm