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Rec Center delays affect students in all areas |
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Thursday, 30 March 2006 |
 | David Mulvaney
Appalachian students anxiously await the delayed opening of the Student Recreation Center.
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by CHRIS ZALUSKI
Sports Editor
Next
weekend was supposed to be a fitting end to a lifetime of competitive
swimming for senior Emily McConnell, the president of the club swim
team.
Next weekend is the date of the team’s favorite meet of the year, the Carolina Spring Invitational.
“I think all the [swimmers] wanted to go, but we had to turn it down,” McConnell said.
With
delays to the Student Recreation Center and the demolition of
Broome-Kirk Gymnasium already underway, the team had no place to
practice and had to cancel all its meets for this semester.
“It’s a big downer not only for me but for the team as well,” McConnell said.
McConnell’s situation is similar to many Appalachian students who,
whether from an athletic, academic or employment perspective, had plans
ruined from construction delays.
Athletics
The most notable affect of the SRC delays has been its influence on athletics.
University Recreation Director Joe Carter said the four athletic areas
affected most have been intramural sports, club sports, outdoor
programs and aquatic programs. These four areas have been halted or
disrupted 80 percent, he said.
The two largest spring intramural sports are indoor soccer and
basketball. Carter said the basketball season attracts up to 160 teams
with eight to 10 players each, and the soccer season attracts over 100
teams.
“I’ve had some students express concern about not being able to play,”
Carter said. “Some students cussed me out that we messed up their
senior year playing basketball.”
One student frustrated over the delays is senior Moss Withers.
Withers, who played intramural sports throughout his years at
Appalachian, said his intramural basketball team has been practicing
for the upcoming season since fall.
“For it being my last year of basketball, not being able to play hurts,” Withers said.
Junior communication major Sean Doherty is also disappointed by the disrupted intramural season.
Doherty, who participated in track and field and played football in
high school, said intramural sports are an important part of his
college experience.
“I still like to play sports and it’s something to do outside of school, allowing me to still be competitive,” Doherty said.
Many students affected by the intramural cancellations, including
Withers and Doherty, said they wish Broome-Kirk had been kept open
until the SRC was completed.
“I wished they would’ve explained what’s going on and why it’s
happening,” Withers said. “Because right now, they have a bunch of
pretty angry students.”
McConnell agreed. She said if the Broome-Kirk pool would have been kept
open, then the swim team would have been able to practice and compete.
Academics, Employment
Apart from athletic programs, the SRC is an area for student employment and academic classes.
Over 200 students were prepared to begin work at the SRC at the
beginning of the semester when it was first scheduled to open, Carter
said.
Since then, those students have been forced to find other work or have been unemployed.
Sophomore sociology major Kandace Davis was hired as a supervisor in
December and was told she would begin working Jan. 15 – when the SRC
was scheduled to open.
“We didn’t think we’d go through the entire semester unemployed,” Davis
said. “We were scared to get another job though, because we didn’t know
if we had to work.”
Though Davis has another on-campus job that provides her with a source
of revenue, she said some of the SRC workers were depending on the job
to pay for tuition.
“I consider myself fortunate to have another job,” she said. “But I
also quit my [resident assistant] job to depend on the Rec Center job.”
Many classes have been halted or rescheduled because of the delays.
Junior political science major Cleve Fairchild said his intermediate swim class has yet to hold an actual “swim class.”
Fairchild said his class has been meeting at the Quinn Recreation
Center, where students work out or play basketball for the hour-long
period.
“I just wish, if there had been a sense that [the SRC would] be
seriously behind schedule, they’d told us before the drop/add day,”
Fairchild said.
Uncertainty
As it stands now, the SRC’s official opening date is still uncertain.
Carter said inspectors were arriving Thursday to examine the pool area,
the only area not yet approved by the North Carolina Department of
Insurance.
Even if the pool passes inspection, Carter said it would require
another week to train employees. He also said it would take time for
some smaller issues, such as making keys and connecting Internet access.
“Getting the building up is one thing,” he said. “But getting it open and ready to go is another.”
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