I casually noticed that fitness passes went up $5 this semester. Big deal, an extra five dollars, at least we will be enjoying added bonuses of the new-and-improved White Building. However, I now find out it is not opening two-thirds of the gym because of pressure from off-campus gyms. Since the White Building is used for classes and the cardio equipment, I have been going there since the beginning of the year.

The people at the information desk have also promised me that the rest of it would be open about two weeks into the semester. Now how long has it been? Vice President of Student Affairs Bill Asbury wants to wait and see "how big the demand is for use of the building." Perhaps he hasn't happened to see the line of impatient students wrapped halfway around the IM building waiting to spend a little time at the gym. I am pretty sure I am not alone in saying that as a college student, I cannot afford to spend a few hundred dollars a semester on a gym membership. But if my tuition dollars are busy paying for brand new equipment, I want to be able to use it. If downtown gyms don't want the White Building gym cutting into their businesses, perhaps it would benefit them to lower their prices a little bit.

The rest of us who pass by the room of brand new, never-before-used equipment have every right to use what our money is paying for.