Editor,
Adam Ornelas stated in his letter published in the Daily Lobo on Thursday what many on campus agree with.
Having attended three other universities prior to coming to UNM for my Ph.D. - in different states and of different student population sizes - UNM is the worst at making the gym available to the whole student body.
The main weight room being open for only eight to 10 hours a day, mostly after 5 p.m., for 25,000 students, is absolutely atrocious. A major state university of 35,000 students in the mid-Atlantic region has a main gym 50 percent bigger than Johnson Center, plus two other facilities open to students during the week for 12 hours a day. A private technical university in the Great Lakes with 15,000 students is open 17 hours a day during the week, with slightly more weight room area than UNM. A small state university in the Midwest has only 2,000 students but stays open for 14 hours each day during the week.
Physical education students do have priority on machines during classes, but anyone can come in and work out. One student employee at Johnson Center, when I asked him about the limited daytime hours, said I should talk to the director, but that the topic had been brought up before, and nothing has changed. That's pretty sad.
Maybe the department needs to realize that it serves 25,000 students, not just the 25 in a particular class, and that the fees all students pay go toward athletic facilities.
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James Hulka
UNM student
