Funding issues keep rec center closed on weekends

Florida A&M University’s Hansel E. Tookes, Sr. Recreation Center is one of the school’s best resources because students love to stay in shape and work out whenever they can.

To the dismay of many students, however, the campus rec center has not been operating on weekends.

 Many students believe the rec center should be open on the weekends but this change would have some repercussions.

Kearvanyes “Kiki” Toussaint, a FAMU alumna, works as the customer service manager at the rec center.

 “We’ve been pushing to open the rec on the weekends but we would not be able to pay the workers properly,” she said. “We have even tried to make a block schedule for the weekend but that did not work out.”

She believes that students would take full advantage if the rec center were to operate on the weekends.

Paris Dolphy, a second year business administration student from Miami, believes there’s a need for the rec center to be open on the weekend.

 “It would be some days on the weekends I feel like I need to put more work in and it would slip my mind that the rec center does not open on the weekends, but if it were to operate on the weekends that would be great for me and every other student that relies on the campus gym because that is the only one I got to,” said Dolphy.

Jada Stevens, a second year business administration student from Cleveland, said she appreciates the campus gym because it is convenient for her. “It would be way more convenient for students who attend the gym on the weekends on a regular basis and do not have outside gym memberships around the Tallahassee area,” Stevens said. “For students who stay on campus it will be a lot more convenient for them because a lot of people have access to gym equipment in their apartment complexes and if you stay on campus that is our only option,” Stevens added.

There are underlying issues beyond getting the rec center to operate on the weekends that involve student accounts and funding for the rec center. More funding would have to come into the rec center to operate on the weekend, enabling the university to pay the workers for the hours they will put in.

“Our staff would be affected if we are open on the weekends. Hours would be moved around and more time would be required from them since the rec is mostly ran by students. They probably would not want to sacrifice their weekends which means the administration staff would step in,” Toussaint said.

“Overall, the rec would definitely be open on the weekends to accommodate our students and make them happier if we had the funds to operate the building,” Toussaint added.