Student Association Recreation Adviser Todd Lokken is concerned about the way requests by the physical education department to use the Recreation Center are being handled. Apparently, Director of Campus Recreation Betty Montgomery did not consult the Student Advisory Recreation Committee (SARC) before renting space in the rec center to the P.E. department.

Montgomery has said the students and administration should trust her judgment not to rent space during periods of time when students are using it. No one has questioned her judgment to make sound decisions. Lokken and SARC just want her to consult them when making those decisions.

Students never wanted the rec center in the first place, but they have it—and they pay enormous activity fees to fund it. And these fees continue to rise every year. It is not too much to ask that the student committee organized to oversee the operations of the rec center be consulted before decisions are made about how the facility is to be used.

There is nothing wrong with renting space in the rec center to the P.E. department or the football team during times when the rooms are not being used. It’s a good way for the Office of Campus Recreation to raise money—and a good way to keep activity fees at a reasonable level.

SARC obviously has recognized this—the committee approved the football team’s use of the activity room last year and has issued a proposal to the P.E. department for the use of the rec center this spring. The students have not stood in the way of potential revenue-producing activities in the facility.

Montgomery stated in a letter to Lokken that Vice President of Student Affairs Jon Dalton considers decisions about the use of the rec center to be “management” decisions—and up to her. That seems to imply that the “management” of the rec center consists of only one person—and that person is answerable only to the university administration.

In these times of drastic budget cuts, it’s doubtful the administration really wants to become solely responsible for the rec center. If students are expected to pay for the center, they should be consulted about the way it is operated. In other words, the students are actually part of the “management.”