Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, roughly around noon, you can find a pickup game of basketball in the Clark Athletic Center. Usually, there are enough bodies to run a full court game and on Fridays there can be upwards of two games going with others waiting their turn to run. But recently this hasn’t been the case, since the Clark Athletic Center gymnasium has been closed to non-athletic team students for the past two weeks.

The week before last, quickly done up signs appeared on the doors of the gym stating its closure to non-athletic team use. It is understandable that athletics teams have priority access to the facilities, especially during the winter months; nonetheless, the fact is all students at UMass pay fees that support the maintenance of these facilities as well as athletic programs, and therefore the entire student body is entitled to use these facilities. Somebody or anybody needs to start posting updated weekly schedules on the gymnasium doors, which state reserved times for teams as well as open gym times for students. Additionally, athletic teams don’t necessarily need to monopolize the entire gym. The large curtain that closes off one end would allow for dual usage of the gymnasium by both students and teams.

Another relevant point is the questionable manner in which students have been disrespectfully treated by coaches upon being asked to leave the gym prior to the time an athletic team’s practice has been scheduled. Although it seems like stereotyping to say that college athletics departments take hierarchical attitudes towards the rest of the non-athletics associated student body, still, it is sometimes forgotten that the university isn’t part of the athletics. Instead, the fact is that the athletics are part of the university; thus, it is only fair to share.

Kory Vergets