Gym to expand options for guest passes

Students wishing to burn off dining hall calories will have a variety of new options available at Pottruck Fitness Center this semester.

Pottruck will offer two free guest passes to undergraduates, half-priced climbing wall fees and the option to pay for for classes and purchases at the running store with PennCash. These changes, resulting from the efforts of the Undergraduate Assembly, will be implemented soon.

The gym also plans to extend Sunday hours until midnight next year and eventually create an undergraduate list-serve in order to keep students informed of changes.

The guest passes, which will be available beginning Feb. 4, may only be used from Friday night to Sunday night. Students must pick up their passes during business hours each Friday in the Recreation Office on the first floor of Pottruck. Additional passes will cost $10.

"We've already gotten a couple of e-mails from some students who are interested in taking advantage of this option," UA Facilities Committee member Brett Thalmann said.

The guest passes are undergoing a trial period this semester but may be available to non-undergraduate gym members in the future.

"I think that's a good change," said second-year Medical student Anup Sharma, who also attended Penn as an undergraduate.

"It was just a pain to try to bring friends to the gym to play basketball or something."

Although students have expressed interest in the guest passes, most have been apathetic towards the new PennCash option.

"I don't think it's even relevant," Wharton freshman Lyssa Gerson said.

According to the Department of Recreation's associate director of facilities Bryan Haunert, few students use PennCash, but Pottruck is working to educate students on how to use it by providing information at the front desk.

"Students are confused about how it works," Haunert said. "A lot of people tried to use it and didn't have any PennCash. They didn't realize it."

PennCash aside, the guest passes may also be an incentive for graduate students to buy a membership, said Sharma, who hopes the offer will be extended to graduate students soon.

According to Haunert, the continuation and expansion of guest passes will be contingent on whether students correctly follow the procedure for using the passes, not the number of passes used.

Because an average of 3,300 people visit the gym during weekdays, guest passes were restricted to weekends and undergraduates, Haunert said.

"I don't think it will be overwhelming to the point where it's crowded on the weekend," Haunert said.

Nonetheless, some students feel that they should be able to bring guests at any point during the week and without having to pick up the passes ahead of time.

"The life of a college student is more spontaneous than that," Gerson said.

However, Gerson said she would take advantage of the passes.

College sophomore Hershel Eisenberger also said he thought the policy was too strict.

"I think you should just be able to bring people," Eisenberger said. "No one is going to remember."

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