The Recreation Center

The vote for building the Student Recreation Center was taken before the recession.

Another alternative for students to find parking on campus.

This is an example of how the adminstratives allowed this irresponsibe vote decision of building the SRC.  

An example of students with permits share this kind of emotion (not actually do it) when looking for parking. 

This is an example of students not able to get the classes they need instead, receive the ones that are available. Students tuition fees increased for the SRC. 

An example of uncomfortable overcrowded classrooms and makes learning harder to process.

Migdal Garcia            

Professor Slobod

English 113 B

14 March 2012

The Student Recreation Center

California State University of Northridge has many features to offer to their students. From programs that help students exceed with their education, to outdoor activities that can help students relieve their stress from schoolwork or work. Furthermore, CSU Northridge has been working on constructing a new structure building for almost two decades. In 2007, the project was voted on and approved by students on making the Student Recreation Center for the future. Students then believed that it would be a great source of investment because it would be a great motivation for future undergraduates to workout with one goal: keep students active while learning. Although the motifs are great, was it a good idea to have spent around sixty two million dollars on making the Student Recreation Center? Even though tuition was going to increase either way, could it have been used for something more productive like modern buildings for classrooms and parking structures? The overlook of the Student Recreation Center was a good idea, but it was not an excellent use of CSU Northridge’s money. Within all the budget cuts that the state of California made, the Student Recreation Center was money used for irresponsible reasons.

When students visit the Student Recreation Center, they are required to register through a computer and scan their hand onto a machine to be able to enter. The machine will determine if the person is a student or not, as for the membership is available to CSU Northridge students, faculty, staff, alumni, and Alumni Association Members only. The Student Recreation Center (SRC) is a 170,000 square foot that will provide modern technology areas of health and fitness. It features “…a three-court gymnasium, one multi-activity-court (MAC), a 18,500-square-foot weight and fitness space, three multi-purpose rooms for aerobics, martial arts, spinning, and dance. The facility will also feature a rock climbing wall, a drop-in childcare room, a 5,000-square-foot pool with showers and lockers, outdoor recreational equipment and storage, and a lighted outdoor field complex for various activities including, soccer, football, and softball” (CSU Northridge…).  There is also an indoor running track, basketball, volleyball, and other sports for students to intentionally engage themselves.

The facility holds many astounding features and the architectural building is something that students and faculty should be proud of. The folding of the building allows ninety percent of the natural daylight for usable space and native landscape. “Some of the sustainable building features provided in the schematic design include: integration with campus stormwater management systems, a green roof, "cool roof" systems, optimized energy performance through high performance envelope, mechanical, and electrical systems, water efficient landscaping with reclaimed water for irrigation, access to daylight and views to the exterior, and use of recycled content and locally produced materials” (CSU Northridge…). The facility is operated from inside and out with a guarantee of efficient light saving, recycled water and water efficient landscaping, and modern technology for thousands of students attending.

Another similar situation is the Student Recreation Center of CSU Fullerton. In March of 2008, the Student Recreation Center opened on campus to offer students the overall physical fitness and wellness. Like CSU Northridge, the total construction cost was borne entirely through campus-based student fees, with no state funds used to build the center or finance ongoing operations (Recreation…). Though CSU Fullerton has gone the extra step of constructing more parking structures for students as well as modern classrooms, building the recreation center was the next step in the plan (Recreation…). CSU Fullerton prioritized their selections with sufficient technology, spacious classrooms, and enough electronic equipment. Parking structures were also constructed for students to have more opportunities to park, although not always guaranteed.

Due to California’s budget cuts, the Student Recreation Center did not help nor ruin CSU Northridge’s budget cuts. It was simply just money spent that could have been funded on more electronic equipment, additional classrooms, healthier choice of food, and new parking structures. As of 2010, the University has over thirty-five thousand students enrolled. A faculty member holds the minimum of twenty students per class. According to the Student Recreation Center website, “…the total USU fee for the 2006-2007 school year was $120 compared to $250 for the upcoming 2011-2012 school year, a 108 percent increase over four years”(Brian De Los Santos). Tuition for undergraduate students increased a little over a hundred percent, meaning that students had the burden to pay extra included in their tuition. Tuition was going to increase either way, so why not pay for an effective and productive cause that would benefit students with their learning. The project coordinator, Bryan Knight, states that the Student Recreation Center membership is free of charge. “Once they pay tuition and student fees, they have access to use it,” (Brian…) said Knight.

Though students have the choice of paying for parking permit, the Student Recreation Center fee was already included in every student’s tuition. The students who decide on paying for parking permits have the choice to pay each semester, which is about one hundred fifty dollars. Alternatively, the whole year is roughly about three hundred dollars. Students know that paying for a parking permit is pricey, but looking for parking without a parking permit is heavily hectic. Parking can become quite a hassle for students and overwhelming to notice a parking level after parking level full. Not finding parking on time also creates delays of coming to class on time as well as timed breaks. It challenges students to get to school earlier in order to find a parking space.

Many activities are held at the recreation center therefore help is wanted. There are about two hundred to three hundred openings available for both students and staff at the recreation center. Instead of those openings at the Student Recreation Center, there could have been less crowded classrooms, more professors rehired, and more attention span on the connection between the student and professor. Some over crowded classrooms include unstable furniture and equipment needed for labs are not always available. In addition, students at times need to wait for their turn when using technology on campus. The wait may take up to half an hour to forty-five minutes in order to use a computer. Some of the technology on campus are indicated to have existed for a long time and sometimes do not function properly. The overall equipment on campus is diminutive and modern technology would benefit students in gaining knowledge in so many different ways.

Students’ health should start on campus. Usually students lack exercise and blame schoolwork or their job for it. Therefore, students create excuses of being unhealthy while eating unhealthy on campus. Of course, almost more than half the food on campus is not healthy. When students walk in food market places, chips are first visible rather than fruits, or pizza is self served rather than chicken salad, and students are prone to buying unhealthy food. The money could have also funded on promoting healthier breakfasts, lunch’s, and dinners, instead of serving hamburgers and pizza’s for lunch. Students who dorm are required to spend a few thousand dollars on something called “meal plans”. Meal plans are for students who do live in a dorm but without a kitchen. The overall experiences of the repetitive meal plans seem less appetizing and unhealthy. Sometimes students are forced on skipping their “meal plan” and instead find the easy excessive way of eating unhealthy on campus. CSU Northridge’s food markets gives the fundamentals choices for students to eat unhealthy. The Student Recreation Center is overall promoted to motivate students’ fitness and health, while the campus fails to have enough nutritious supplement to support their concept and

CSU Northridge wants to promote the Student Recreation Center as a source of motivation towards students by providing healthy tips, fitness, and wellness. Working out may be a way to unwind stressful situations that school makes students experience through many levels of stress due to tests, projects, etc. CSU Northridge’s ultimate goal is to help students reach their educational goals. The journey to achieve that goal may seem unbearable with not enough professors, uncomfortable classrooms, and not enough required lab and technology equipment’s. The tools needed in order to achieve the ultimate goal are disregarded. If students had the implements to acquire their education, then their ambition to study harder would eventually increase the rate of students achieving their ultimate educational goals and the Student Recreation Center would be the alternate along the process.

Overall, the Student Recreation Center at CSU Northridge is an astounding building filled with amazing advance technology features. Although, there are alternatives as to working out such as clubs and teams that students can join. Students can also empower themselves from the daily activities of independently working out by motivating each other to maintain condition.   However, the university’s main concern should have been to fund on what students need in order to succeed their ultimate educational goal. The idea of the Student Recreation Center was great, but given the student’s financial situations, faculty members could have been more financially responsible and should have prioritized on what was more important, no matter what the students in 2007 voted on. Now students have a new and advanced recreation center and currently overcrowded classrooms, not enough technology for students to use, unhealthy food choices on campus, parking spaces that may take up to four blocks away from campus due to not enough parking structures, and a numerous amount of professor’s still unemployed. The Student Recreation Center is a great motivation for students, but the best inspiration would be to help students exceed in their classes with comfortable classrooms, additional electronics, and the connection between students and a professor is priceless.            

Work Cited

“CSU Northridge Student Recreation Center” Cal State Northridge Student Recreation Center       (SRC). Web. 1 March 2012.

De Los Santos, Brain. “CSUN’s Student Recreation Center to Open Spring 2012”. Daily              Sundial. 26 January 2011. Web. 1 March 2012.

“Recreation Center”. Associated Students, Inc. California State University, Fullerton. History of             ASI. Associated Students. 2012. Web. 1 March 2012.

“Statistics” California State University- Northridge. College Prowler. 2012. Web. 1 March            2012.

“Student- Funded Rec Center at Cal State Northridge”. PRWeb: Online Visibility from Focus. 9   February 2012. Web. 1 March 2012.