Survey results in
A recent survey on Utah State University’s recreational facilities shows students are unhappy with current conditions and are willing to raise fees for improvements.
According to the survey, “Participants were very dissatisfied with facilities-related issues. More than 80 percent rated the equipment-to-student ratio as ‘poor’ to ‘very poor’ and more than 70 percent rated the size of the room ‘poor’ to ‘very poor.'”
However, service-related issues were rated as “very good” to “excellent,” according to the survey.
Andy Van Shaack, a graduate student in instructional technology, said the Psychology 6570 class members took on this survey as a class project to collect data and analyze it.
“It is not our position to make a policy statement,” Van Shaack said. “[But] we are willing to make the results available to anyone that contacts us.”
Art Jones, director of the health, physical education and recreation department, said the current weight room is “embarrassing for us.”
Jones said the problem is not only the weight room, but recreational facilities in general. He said the fieldhouse is crowded and USU doesn’t even own a treadmill for students.
Jones said it does not make sense for other universities in Utah, such as Southern Utah State University with 8,000 students, to have far more advanced and larger recreational centers when USU has around 18,000 students who have to settle for “inadequate facilities.”
Jones also said, “The best solution is a combination of academic facilities and recreational facilities to be shared like we have successfully done for the past 30 years.
“I think this survey is a step in the right direction,” Jones said.
Van Shaack said class members administered the survey in two ways. They left surveys with the staff of the HPER weight room and also showed up at the room various times during the day and week to administer the survey in order to gain a representative sample.
“We had very strict protocol in how it was administered so there would be no influence,” Van Shaack said.
After the surveys were collected, class members also compared the results of the surveys administered by staff and those given by the class, he said.
“There were no significant differences,” Van Shaack said.
According to the survey results, the participants “are willing to put their money where their muscle is – 82 percent stated that they would be willing to see an increase in student fees in order to improve the quality of the weight room.”
Steve Palmer, ASUSU president, said six members of the Student Fee Board put together their own survey to better understand the recreational needs of students two years ago. The survey found most students were unhappy with the current facilities, but like the results from the recent class survey, they were willing to raise fees slightly to make improvements.
The proposed cost for a new state-of-the-art recreation center was approximated at $12 million, but the total funds could not be covered by state funds, Palmer said.
He said students then agreed through a referendum to raise student fees by $63 each semester until the new facility was completed or funds were sufficient.
However, the issue was tabled soon afterwards resulting from students who said only a minority would use the new facility and felt the fees are not justified, Palmer said.
Palmer said, “There was also concern that this would hurt local businesses by taking away their student population.”
Yet, the new survey by Psych 6570 class members, indicates students are now willing to pay an increase of up to $10 in fees to improve the weight room and other recreational facilities.
Van Shaack said, this survey only presents the opinions of people who already use the athletic facilities.
Jones said if any improvements are going to happen to the recreational facilities, “it needs to be student initiated.”
Palmer said he encourages all students who would like to express their opinion on the issue, whether it be the condition of current recreational facilities, what actions student government should take or how current facilities can be improved should e-mail him directly at palmer@cc.usu.edu or call 797-1723.