Ka Leo O Hawaii

Issue date: 11/15/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Brandi Salas Two of the seven elliptical trainers at the Stan Sheriff Fitness Center are broken, causing long waiting periods for students wanting to do cardio workouts during peak hours.

Some students at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa would like to see the athletics department use the $500,000 Toyota funds to fix up the university's fitness center because their private concert was an inconvenience to the students of the university.

Little has been said about the $500,000 paid to the athletics department by Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. as a usage fee for use of the lower campus facilities in October. However, according to John McNamara, associate athletics director for external affairs, the athletics department has already decided what it will be using the funds for. The money will go toward scholarships for student athletes and program enhancements throughout the athletics facilities.

The scholarships are supposed to provide funding for student athletes' tuition, room, board and books. Moreover, the facilities and programs will also get funds. The program enhancements will be fulfilled on a case-by-case basis.

"It depends on what the needs are for facilities and equipment," McNamara said.

Athletics Director Herman Frasier assured the UH Mānoa community in September that the money would be used to benefit everyone at the university.

"I think (Frasier's) going to utilize (the money) in a way that's most beneficial to the students," McNamara said.

Students like Janna Scapella, a senior in Korean studies, said the money would be better spent on the fitness center, since she and other students living on campus were inconvenienced during Toyota's event.

"I heard the athletics department is in debt," Scapella said. "But closing off lower campus in order to help pay that debt seems like yet another case of the students being seen as a last priority on campus, and of hurting students due to the irresponsibility of department leadership."

Scapella added that her personal experience at the gym has not been the best.

"When it is busy, there are long waiting periods for cardio and weight machines, so it is difficult to get a good workout," she said. "For such a large institution, the fitness center is very small and I have never been to a fitness center before that opens so late in the day and lets their machines remain broken for so long."

Continued...

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