The Undergraduate Student Government (USG) wants to make community members flash some green before being allowed to continue to use Penn State's overcrowded recreational facilities.

Part of each student's activity fee helps cover the expense of maintaining and staffing the buildings, so students deserve first priority.

During off-peak hours, locals should be allowed to use the space, but during the most popular times of day, the areas should be open to paying customers only.

Town Sen. Jeff Downing said community members who use the gym include high school coaches who bring their teams to play on the university's indoor court. This is a misuse of university facilities.

If high school teams need an indoor court to practice on, they should either pay to go to an area gymnasium or pay the university.

USG is proposing community members be charged a higher rate than students. However, it does not seem fair to charge community members more, and it could hurt community relations.

We support USG's idea to take charge of this annoying situation.

It shows USG senators are looking out for the concerns and interests of students, some of whom have been forced out of crowded gym areas that they help pay for.

The idea might seem like an easy task for USG, but it could be a policing nightmare.

The resolution proposes that the doors be locked and have an ID+ swipe similar to those on dorms. However, this plan will probably not accomplish much. "Piggy backing" is already prevalent at dorms and will probably be just as common at recreational facilities.

The money from paying community members could be more effectively used to pay for a person to check ID cards at the door.

If students have to pay to use community facilities such as the YMCA and other gyms, it only seems fair that the community step up and chip in to help offset the cost of university facilities.

This could also help decrease the need for expanding on campus facilities, saving the university money at a time when Penn State's budget is consistently dwindling.