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Student Union
Pool soaks up funds
By William Marshall
On-line Forty-Niner
The university
spends tens of thousands of dollars each year on ways to make
the school a better place for students and faculty. One recent
project, the Associated Student Inc. and the University Student
Union -funded renovation of the union pool, has a bad reputation
and gets very little use.
"Hardly anyone uses the pool during the fall, winter
and spring semesters," said Eric Murakami, Student Union
games supervisor. "And yet it is still cleaned and maintained
on a daily basis."
The pool is available for use by all students, faculty and
alumni free of charge. Groups can also reserve the pool for
private parties and gatherings for a fee of $50 an hour. Yet,
many students seem unaware or just plain uninterested in using
the Student Union pool.
"No, I would not!" said graduate student Angie Paige
when asked if she would ever consider using the swimming pool
at the union.
Adds Seung Lee, a physical therapy graduate student, "I
didn't even know you could use that pool, I've never seen
anyone in it."
The cost of maintaining the pool doesn't come cheap either,
especially after the university spent money on renovations
last year.
"I would estimate that the union spent around $27,000
on improvements and renovations to the pool last year,"
said Ed Claxton, University Student Union building superintendent.
According to Claxton, renovations included replacing the tile
coping around the edge of the pool, replacing the old underground
supply and return waterlines, new drains, lights, and a complete
re-plastering of the pool. The installation of handrails to
meet the compliance of the American Disability Association
was included in the renovation. Also, renovations to improve
the appearance of the pool by adding tile spelling out "The
Beach" and replacing the old, weathered concrete deck.
In addition, the maintenance for cleaning and chlorine tests,
which the school must provide and keep a daily log to insure
the pool is up to regulations, adds to the costs.
"I can't believe the school would spend that amount of
money on a stupid pool that no one ever even uses," said
Josh Burns, a senior English major. "That money could
have easily been spent on something that we could actually
use, there are already pools here on the other side of campus."
Adds Ryan Johnson, a senior finance major, "I've never
seen anyone use that pool, I'd like to see some more girls
down there in G-strings though."
Contrary to what seems to be the popular opinion, students
do actually use the union pool at times.
"The pool is used most often in the summer by international
students," said the lead games attendant at the student
union, who wished to remain anonymous.
"With such a high cost of maintaining the union pool
and such a low usage of persons using the facilities, the
A.S.I. should really be rethinking how they spend our money,"
said Jennifer Koontz, a junior psychology major. "That
makes me really mad."
A.S.I. was not available for comment on this issue.
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