Kiley Groome, EvCC sophomore, went to use the gym one day last year. “I showed up … and it was closed.” This was in spring quarter, and Groome said there was no warning beforehand. “No one was there and there was no announcement that it was closed, so it was kind of annoying since I do pay to be able to go there.”

Last year, the concern came about that the fitness center was often closed due to various events scheduled there and students were told to leave. How are these events important enough to kick students out of the mix?

Included in their tuition cost, students pay a fee of up to a maximum of $50 each quarter for the Walt Price Student Fitness Center. It is called the Enhancement Fee that was voted for by students in 2007 to “support major campus upgrades,” according to the EvCC website.

Dr. David Beyer, President of EvCC, said the Fitness Center is on a 20-year loan and the fee is largely what is paying back that loan.

According to President Beyer, the Fitness Center does not get funded by state money at all. It is purely from the Enhancement Fee, and some of the revenue generated from events they lease there.

Does EvCC really need that revenue?

The answer is a complicated one. Beyer said part of the revenue goes to a scholarship fund for recruiting student athletes and equipment costs.

When asked if it would be detrimental to not generate any revenue from leasing events, Dr. Beyer said “No, it’s going to be there for a long time.” He noted it would just be more difficult to maintain the Fitness Center without any revenue.

One of the things EvCC uses the Fitness Center for is to lease the space out to Northwest Neighborhood, which is the people who live right around EvCC. They use it for a neighborhood meeting about once a month at no charge.

According to Beyer, some of the advantages of leasing the space out to close communities such as Northwest Neighborhood is EvCC wants to be a good neighbor. It can also be a marketing opportunity for the college.

A high school held a career orientation in the fitness center. Dr. Beyer said they really like it because it was more fitting to be located on a college campus. This was a marketing opportunity because those students could consider EvCC as a place to go to college.

At a VP staff meeting on May 31, a P.E. teacher and Jason Smith, Dean of Health Sciences & Public Safety Division, presented their concerns to everyone. They didn’t like their classes being cancelled for outside events- often with no warning.

Beyer said, “We need to be vigilant about giving students advance notice.” He suggested having it on the class syllabus so students know when there will be no class. Dr. Beyer and other administration responsible for scheduling events have taken into account when health and physical education classes are in order to make an effort to schedule around them.

If you want to know the dates and times that the Fitness Center will be closed, you can find that here. For information about closures due to athletic events, you can find that here.