But it’s a tight squeeze – and a lot of effort and coordination make things work.
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Twenty-one-year-old math major Philip Chueng spent his Thursday mornings in the fall semester manning the fitness center front desk located two floors under the main lobby of the Hunter West Building. One Thursday, however, he was putting trash cans under a leaky panel ceiling. “When it rains, the leaks become a serious problem,” Chueng said. This date, a day without rain, he said, the bad piping in the building caused the leaks.
“It’s New York City, water flows down,” said Michael Belfiore, Associate Athletics Director while whiting out a payroll sheet at his desk in a room of the West Building subterranean sportsplex. Three to four leaks resulting from different reasons have been persistent, he said. The fitness center leak was caused by rainwater from a loading dock. Above the main gym on basement level three, leaks occurred in a kitchen and had threatened to interfere with women’s basketball practice, he said.
Plumbing was an issue in many bathrooms, including basement facilities and the halls leading from the escalators to the fitness room and locker rooms. Housekeeping personnel Berta Castro’s job was to report such safety hazards, she said. She was vigorously mopping the tiled floors outside the fitness room and added a second trashcan to collect falling water when she was interviewed.
The main gym sustains serious leaks during heavy rains, Chueng said, adding that the previous winter a ventilation problem led to temperatures in the fitness center reaching 80 degrees. Belfiore almost shut down the facilities that winter. He has been persistent in seeking funding and assistance to address such problems, he said. He supervises 18 varsity coaches and oversee equipment and facilities. He also oversees student compliance, ensuring that Hawks student-athletes have met requirements to compete.
Recreation includes yoga, pilates and kickboxing classes as well as other athletic delights, such as swimming and pickup basketball, which are open to all students, faculty, staff and alumni. Several students were interviewed about the fitness room, which includes both cardio and weight machines: Convenience. Asha Timotheose, 19, a sociology and pre-med student interviewed as he was heading to the subway after working out after class, said the fitness center hours could be better for her but the convenience of exercising on campus caused her to visit regularly.
Despite the convenience, one issue garnered from the interviews concerend missing dumbbells, 45 and 80 pounds and heavier. Belfiore said the 45-pound dumbbellss were broken, thus, unusable. He also said he planned to replace broken 80-pound dumbbells but the heavier ones would not be replaced. Regarding the latter, he said, they were primarily used by students who did not really need them.
About the time this article was being researched late last semester, Belfiore was seen taping a crack in the weight room mirror near the dumbbell rack. He said, the crack was probably caused by a dumbbell hitting the mirror. Such fixes are a big issue because the mirrors, glued to the wall, have to be replaced by an outside company. Numerous electricians were seen working under open ceiling panels; wires dangled next to ladders. They were installing cameras, Belfiore said, for security purposes.
Laurie O’Connor, Facilities and Maintenance information technician, said her department maintains four buildings. Over 200 employees form the facilities and maintenance crew, and more are needed, the 19-year veteran said in front of her office. The number of employees has actually decreased even though the student population has increased, as those employees who retire are not replaced.
“We’re handed a different budget every year,” she said, meaning annual budget cuts. O’Connor said cleaning and general repairs for the athletic areas in the West Building occur daily, with the exception of exercise machines. That work was covered by the athletic department, she said.
The goal of Facilities and Maintenance, Peter Plevritis, superintendent of the department said, standing below the department’s sign, was to “improve the college community.” He was tall and wore a white button-up shirt and tie with dark blue slacks and black dress shoes and has worked in facilities 21 years.
The Auxiliary Court in the underground College sportsplex.
Ideally, Belfiore said, one cubic foot of space per user would be provided. The weight room, which has cardio equipment, free weights and weight machines, is less than 300, he said. Chueng, the fifth-year math student planning to stay at Hunter for graduate school, echoed the problem of a lack of space. Belfiore said the free weight area was too crowded and presented another potential safety issue. One semester a student cut his hand accidentally, dropping a heavy dumbbell on another.
Eighteen-year-old Maurcio Fajardo said in the men’s locker room that the puddles of water from the toilets in the men’s locker room were “terrible” but said his primary complaint was that there was not enough space in the weight room. The weights and cardio machines should not be right next to each other, he said.
Chris Newcomb, a nutrition major and member of the Hawks Men’s Volleyball Team, was not able to practice in the basement third floor gym, which was being used for a student majors fair. The Hoboken resident, dressed in a purple Hunter Hawks T-shirt and shorts set, prepared to run outside instead. He transferred to Hunter this year from the College of Staten Island and has not yet decided on a major.
Another concern for Belfiore, now in his fifth year at Hunter, was that the fitness room must be inviting to women who more often used treadmill and elliptical machines and might be intimidated by grunting males near the entrance. Therefore weights were crowded in the back of the room as this article was being prepared.
“Space,” Belfiore said, “will never be adequate.”
Michael Hensley can be reached at hensley.hensley@gmail.com