RHA to unify care of fitness centers

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Plans to centralize management of residence hall fitness centers began Wednesday at an MSU Residence Halls Association meeting.

A bill was passed that charged University Housing, the Department of Residence Life and RHA to work together to explore and propose plans to centralize the fitness centers.

“No one really knew who’s in charge of (the centers). Some of them are being used, some aren’t being used,” said Kara Charbarneau, a Landon Hall representative. “It inspired us to get the ball rolling to figure out who should be in charge and centralize it all.”

The biggest reason for the lack of use is inconsistency among the centers. Problems include staffing, lack of interest and faulty equipment, she said.

RHA President Mark Dobson said the centers need to be centralized because by staying closed, they waste students’ money.

“There are weight rooms where a lot of student tax dollars, room and board dollars and a lot of other dollars have gone into those, upgrading and maintaining them, and at the end of the day, the doors still stay shut because there’s a lot of lingering questions,” he said.

With the passing of the bill, RHA, Residence Life and University Housing will form a group to look into specific numbers and create proposals to present to RHA by April 1.

“(We) had some conversations earlier in the year and we said if there was support from the community — which I think we saw today­ — that we could get the ball rolling,” Dobson said. “It’s real difficult to say, but what I think we’re going to end up with is that final product, which has the cornerstones of safety, consistency and greater service to students.”

The result of the project hopefully would result in more students using the on-campus fitness centers, Holmes Hall representative Shawn Silver said.

“It makes it more convenient for (students),” Silver said. “It makes everything more accessible. I think all around, it’s just something that is very positive.”

RHA also opened nominations for next year’s president. The election for RHA president is scheduled for Feb. 25.

“It’s kind of bittersweet because it’s like the beginning of the end,” said Dobson, who has been president since 2006. “It gets real exciting because that team for next year starts to take shape and the tradition of a great service to student continues.”

Only the RHA president and vice president are elected. Other officers are hired by RHA.

“The names and the faces change, but a lot of it stays the same. We’ll make a smooth transition,” he said.

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