Dillon undergoes summer makeover

These summer renovations are the first phase of short-term improvements implemented by the Department of Campus Recreation and the Office of Facilities. The University has not planned a full-scale overhaul or expansion of Dillon. A majority of the survey’s respondents, however, suggested that such an overhaul take place.

The renovated Stephens Fitness Center includes 12 new treadmills, bringing the total count to 20.

The new equipment serve as a response to student complaints of long lines, said David Leach, associate director of athletics for campus recreation. For a full listing of the renovations, please see the accompanying graphic.

In addition, Saturday hours have been extended to 9:45 p.m., from the usual 7:45 p.m. Last spring, the USG lobbied for a temporary Saturday hours extension to 11:45 p.m.

“As we’ve increased cardio, the wait time for equipment should be diminished,” Leach said, adding that the jump from eight to 20 treadmills “should realistically meet the demand of our student and university community.”

The shortage of treadmills “was a major thing that came out of the survey,” U-Councilor Liz Rosen ’10 said. As the campus recreation liaison, Rosen collaborated with other student leaders and administrators to move the process forward.

The renovations this summer, as well as smaller improvements during the 2008-09 academic year, will cost about $400,000, Executive Vice President Mark Burstein said in an e-mail. Prior to the renovations, $1.2 million had been invested toward upgrading and maintaining Dillon Gym from 2005 to 2008.

“These funds come from the extraordinary Annual Giving results of the past year,” Burstein explained.

Still, shorter-term improvements will continue with money set aside from the University’s Capital Plan, Burstein said. Ten million dollars have been designated for future phased upgrades to Dillon, set to be complete by fall 2012.

Getting the ball rolling

Student leaders and campus administrators both said that the USG survey from this past spring was critical to bringing the issue of Dillon renovations to the forefront.

“I think it goes without question that the responses to the survey were immensely helpful,” Rosen said. “We had an inkling about student disgruntlement with Dillon, but having it quantified and explicitly printed out in a survey really confirmed our suspicions.”

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Undergraduate Life chair Arthur Levy ’10, who took part in brainstorming solutions to addressing the concerns with Dillon, said in an e-mail that the administration became “much more perceptive” after they saw the results of the USG survey.

USG president Josh Weinstein ’09 said in an e-mail that getting funding allocated toward Dillon renovations was “the biggest challenge.” He added that “if it weren’t for the efforts of the USG and more so the incredible amount of student feedback, these changes would not have been implemented.”

“This definitely galvanized them into action on the issue of Dillon,” Levy said.

Student involvement not only allowed the administration to gauge student opinion, but it also helped “reignite the issue” of Dillon improvement, Vice President for Campus Life Janet Dickerson said, adding that “every generation of students since I’ve been here has raised the issue.”

“I think it was helpful to have the feedback and, as it were, pressure from USG representatives,” she said.

Leach emphasized that there was positive collaboration with the University. Though the administration did not place Dillon as one of the top priorities in its Capital Plan, he said he believed the administration “has been very receptive to what our needs have been and have been out there trying to take care of [them] ... They are really looking to see that we get things done.”

A campus recreation advisory committee is also in the works for the coming year, aiming to further expedite communication between the student body and the administration.

A little bit at a time

Recognition of Stephens’ shortcomings is not new, Dickerson noted. “Even when it opened [in 2000], there were concerns that there wouldn’t be enough space to meet the needs of all the people who were interested,” she said.

The administration has been actively planning to make improvements to Dillon since 2005, Dickerson said, explaining that Leach’s arrival in 2006 added to these efforts.

Financial and time restrictions, however, prevented a larger-scale effort to overhaul Dillon.

Major campus projects in recent years, including the construction of the four-year Whitman College and the upgrades to Butler College as well as academic additions such as the Lewis Library and chemistry building, “ultimately bumped Dillon from our list of needs,” Dickerson explained.

Since the cost of a full-scale renovation and a “really excellent addition to Dillon” would fall “in the high millions,” President Tilghman and Provost Christopher Eisgruber ’83 determined that such changes are not on the list of priorities for the coming decade, Dickerson said.

Even given the financial restrictions and the limited space in Dillon, Weinstein wanted to ensure that changes occurred. “[Dillon] was one of, if not the, major student concern, and it was also something the USG was very capable of achieving tangible gains on in the short-term, while also laying the foundation for continued partnerships and work on lobbying for a major overhaul and expansion,” he said.

“What has been done over the summer is an easy-to-implement solution that alleviates some of the students’ concern, but doesn’t take as much time to execute,” Levy said.

“I think they did a good job with making improvements for the short term,” regular Dillon user Victoria Foxgrover ’10 said. “I know a big re-haul would take a lot of time and money.”