The new gym hours at Eastern University have sparked some frustration among the student body. The gym is open to athletes from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. from Monday to Friday and 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. on weekends and open to all non-athlete students from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays and 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. on weekends.
“It disappoints me that the gym isn’t open anymore in the morning. It is the perfect way to start a productive day,” EU student, Myles Allen says. Myles is not alone in this sentiment; many other students also feel this way. To many students who are not a part of sports teams, this is seen as an inconvenience; not being able to work out until later in the afternoon disrupts the day’s agenda for many students. While not one that sparks any intense emotion, the reasonable point of the expense of tuition for the average student usually is mentioned during these conversations, with many claiming that Eastern charges too much to not allow the gym to be used by the rest of the student body during the early hours of the day.
However, many students still feel as though these hours are better compared to the gym situation last year had to offer. In order to go to the gym, a student first had to reserve a time for his or herself to go, and even then, a student could only stay for 50 minutes at a time. Due to this change, students felt disincentivized to go to the gym, feeling that there were too many constraints put on gym attendance. Despite the inconveniences of last semester and the odd gym hours that this semester has to offer, the gym hours still are able to give more of an incentive to go than last semester.
Despite the inconvenience of not being able to go in the earlier hours in the day, students are still more happy with the odd hours that the gym has to offer this semester than the reservation of the last. The gym is a place that many students feel as though should not be restricted due to athlete’s routine workouts, although many sympathize with the sentiment of allowing the athletes to have full access to the gym at specific times during the day. In either case, students are ultimately disappointed with their lack of opportunity to work out at the gym during the earlier hours of the day but are happy to finally not have to reserve a time slot to be able to go to the gym.