To the Editor:
The recent donation of $100,000 by the Manleys is much needed and much appreciated. While alumni contributions cannot be judged by amount, their contribution is exceedingly generous by any measure.
I am disturbed, however, by the article which appeared in The Dartmouth on April 15. It stated that the donation will go towards providing a new facility for team athletes.
While I understand and wholeheartedly agree that intercollegiate athletes need the best we can get them, it is unfair that they should receive virtually all funds that go towards the promotion of student fitness.
There are many at Dartmouth for whom exercise and strength training are an important part of life, regardless of team affiliation. The cardio-vascular exercise machines available at Kresge, while limited, are very much up to date. Last time I checked, stairmasters, lifecycles, air-dyne bikes, and that mountain climber thing were the best things out there.
Anaerobic exercise options, however, are limited. Although new equipment has been added recently, we still don't have a decline bench or many other things that one would expect to find in a gym.
To hear that the "new" Kresge will focus on cardio-vascular activities, while strength training will be focused in the "athletes only" gyms, makes me wonder what will be left for those of us who no longer participate in inter-collegiate athletics but want to maintain or increase our strength if and when we do get back on the field.
Strength training is just as important a part of an exercise regime as aerobic activity. To think that it will become more difficult for the common student to maintain his or her "corpore sano" makes me question the "mentes sanae" of our administration.
