The ability to attend Dartmouth is a privilege. One cannot deny that the approximately $27,000 annual cost is worth the educational and social benefits each student is granted and indeed earns as a member of the oft-cited Dartmouth "community." Yet, in this day and age of administrative pandering to politically correct vocalists demanding the creation of new deans, ad-hoc committees and pointing out oppression on campus, one item has been neglected -- the weight room.
Oppression? The gym? Well, before you start rattling your wrists and having seizures about the prospect of being able to protest a stereotypically male-oriented facet of our community, forget it. The issue is a simple one, but one which needs to be rectified.
The weight room hours are extremely limited. The room is open to the general public -- those individuals who have signed a form that implies that any injury incurred on the antiquated equipment is one's own fault -- in the morning and in the evening, from 7 to 10 p.m. Most students have class in the mornings, which pretty much ruins the first time slot, and only the masochistic would choose to work out rather than sleep on those precious free days.
The second time slot is in convenient as well. One has to wonder about the prime time in-between, the time after classes and before dinner. This time slot is almost always reserved for varsity athletes. Yet, as much as I could conceivably proclaim this disparity unfair, that is not at the crux of the issue.
The real problem is that more often than not, the free weights, such as the bench press are reserved but not in use. Last week I went to the weight room to find that the women's swimming team was intermittently using only one bench, and that three spaces were available. When a friend and I approached one of the unmistakably open spaces, the man at the desk accosted us, stating that the rules of the gym meant only the athletes could use certain exercise stations.
This incident was especially disturbing since I had called the weight room about an hour earlier to specifically determine a time to go -- not to mention the minor fact that for $27,000-a-year each student should have access to whatever facilities he chooses.
I must ask, who is the nearsighted bureaucrat that made these rules a reality? Why not reserve the weights for a team, and permit normal "civilian" use when the team is not working with them? Moreover, I have often seen a team finish its designated routine in an hour or 90 minutes, yet the room's benches are off limits for a solid six-hour time slot. As if this were not inefficient enough, the room, even if not reserved, is still inaccessible to the greater college population. That essentially means that no matter what the parameters are, one simply cannot use the bench section of the gym from 1 to 7 p.m.
This column is by no means an affront on the athletes at Dartmouth. Obviously, these individuals put a lot of time and effort into their respective sports to achieve a desired goal, which as a fan, I can say is pleasing for the entire student body. Yet, as one of a number of frustrated individuals, I am not about to buy a pair of lacrosse shorts just to be able to use the already wanting facilities. The weight room schedule needs to be reassessed so that all students can have maximum use of the four benches generously allocated for use by the more than 4000 individuals on campus.
