By: Ratasha Iribarren/Staff Writer
As one of the 25 largest public universities in the nation with over 44,000 students, and a large percentage of those students swiping cards at the Recreation Center daily, the lack of semester lockers is unfortunate.
Like many commuting students at the University, I rose before the crack of dawn on the first day of the fall semester. However, while most students set early alarms to evade parking lot brawls and traffic jams, I dragged myself out of bed at 5:00 a.m. to obtain a semester locker for the Recreation Center. When I made my way over to a small line of other students who were also anxiously waiting for semester lockers, a girl notified me that only four semester lockers existed in the entire women’s locker room and there were already four women standing in line to pay for them.
Despite arriving to the Recreation Center at 5:55 a.m. for the first come first serve 6 a.m. sign-up, I left campus with bags under my eyes and the money I had for a semester locker still in my hands.
Paying the $25 fee for a semester locker benefits frequent Recreation Center users because the added room allows extra space for clothing, toiletries and gym bags. In addition, semester lockers alleviate member concerns of leaving their valuables overnight and save them time from trekking all the way across campus to pick them up from the car. Instead of wasting time from making these extra trips, Recreation Center members could use the extra time to sign up and participate in group fitness classes, generating more revenue for the Recreation Center and more clientele for the instructors.
Carrying around all of this excess baggage also contributes to the development of uneven shoulders, shoulder pain, back pain and posture problems, which conflicts with the health benefits of working out.
If you are unable to obtain a semester locker, there are over 200 free daily lockers. However, gym users are not allowed to leave belongings in these lockers overnight and the Recreation Center is not responsible for lost items. While the daily lockers are free and convenient, I think that the $25 fee for an overnight semester locker is a small price to pay for security of my belongings, sustained health, more time in the gym and less hassle of making trips to the car.
Although the Recreation Center website provides information on how many daily lockers there are in the gym, the price of semester lockers and when to show up to register for one, it never lists the actual number of semester lockers.
In the future, the Recreation Center plans on expanding their facility and creating larger and multiple locker rooms, but I would strongly advise that they include at least 100 semester lockers in both the men’s and women’s locker rooms to account for the thousands of gym users that workout at the Recreation Center every semester.
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