Too many extras

By: David Philpott

For the last four years, I have been using the Pulse. My experience has been fantastic but I will be the first to say that there are some problems. What stands out the most to users is that the Pulse is overcrowded. There have been times over the summer when the staff has had to put up wet floor signs because it was so busy that the humidity created puddles.

Even now in January during peak hours, you can expect to see a line of three or four people waiting to use a bench press. It is good that so many students are looking to live a healthy lifestyle, but something needs to be done. Turning away students is not a good solution, so the obvious answer is to expand the Pulse.

Knowing this, I was very pleased last year to see the incoming MSU president, Justin Monaco-Barnes, was campaigning on the platform of a Pulse expansion. Justin’s work since then has taken the form of a referendum that will be voted during the upcoming presidentials.  The referendum presents you three options:

Option A

A $95 increase to the student Athletics and Recreation fee (in addition to the $259.09 already being paid). This will increase to $105 by 2020.

A $3.95 per unit increase fee (to a maximum of 30 units).

The fees will go towards a Pulse expansion, a new student activity building and a 12-month Pulse membership for all students.

Option B

The same as option A except the per unit fee would be $1.97 and there would be no Student Activity Building constructed.

Option C

No Pulse expansion, no student activity building and no Pulse membership for all students.

It pains me to say this, but I implore all undergraduate students to vote for Option C. The Pulse desperately needs expansion, but the alternatives are fundamentally flawed.  This is because it is not in the interests of students to have a compulsory 12-month Pulse membership.

For one, not all students use this service. Commuting students, those who prefer to use another gym, those who don’t work out regularly and those too busy to work out will all be required to pay for a membership that they will not use.

The current system at the Pulse is that students must, in addition to their student fees, purchase a Pulse membership. Those students who want to use the gym can buy in to this service at a lower cost than other community gyms. Additionally, students can choose between four, eight or 12 month memberships depending on if they are in Hamilton over the summer or leave for a term.

This system is good because it offers flexible options for students and does not make memberships compulsory for non-users. Additionally, the buy-in aspect limits the number of users of the Pulse to those serious about working out and thus serious about safely using the equipment. This system works well and should be kept.

Secondly, the presented schedule would have memberships become compulsory before the Pulse expansion is completed. This would mean the number of members would increase from approximately 11,000 to over 20,000 while simultaneously the space available would decrease during construction. This would only exacerbate the issue that students are having.

In addition to the compulsory membership, students would begin paying the additional fees next year. Many of those students would graduate before every seeing what their money paid for. This ‘pay first, use later’ approach has been used to fund other buildings on campus, but that doesn’t make it right. It is hard for someone like me, who will be graduating soon, to accept this cost.

So although I applaud Justin and VP (Finance) Ryan MacDonald for their hard work, I must ask you to vote down the proposed referendum. When students say we want the Pulse to be expanded, we mean we only want the Pulse expanded and not all the other things this referendum offers. If option A or B were passed, it would mean increased overcrowding at the Pulse and increased costs for non-Pulse users. I want the Pulse expanded, but not like this.

Disclaimer: the author of this article has worked at the Pulse for the last three years.