Unscheduled Open Gyms for SFU

To Simon Fraser University, We, the undersigned, believe that the new "scheduled open gym" changes made are unfair to the students of SFU who pay activity fees out of our tuitions every semester to keep SFU recreation running. And we are making this petition to ask that the Gym and it's basketball courts be changed back to it's former unscheduled drop in where the gym can be used when there are no activities happening. SFU is a school famous for it's athletic heritage and these new changes are destroying an important part of our school's culture. The current system of Scheduled drop ins does not work for most students in SFU as the hours are only on weekdays for a few hours during the day. On Thursdays and Fridays it's even less. And there have been quite a few times the gym was closed even earlier than it's scheduled hours. Even during the new open gym times, the courts are too packed because times are so limited. There's often 4 or 5 teams waiting at each basketball rim. Most students have classes during the day and need time to have lunch as well on their breaks, which leave no time at all to use the gym for sports. When not in use, the gym is now completely locked, which is a total waste of the facilities. Students pay activity fees out of their tuitions so they can take advantage of the school's facilities after their classes and school work to find balance in their lives, but it's pointless if the gym is locked up during late afternoons, nights, weekends and during breaks between semesters. It also appears that the gym will be completely closed during breaks after classes are finished, which is very different from the old practice. These are all the main times when students actually have any chance to partake in recreational activities. With these new changes made this semester, many, if not most SFU students who play sports like basketball, have been forced to travel to other schools such as Douglas, UBC and others to use their gyms instead as they have gym schedules resembling the old system used by SFU prior to this semester. This is an embarrassment to SFU and makes our school look extremely petty and bad. We truly hope that the gym hours can be switched back to it's old system where students can use the facilities whenever there's nothing scheduled and also during the breaks. The old system where the gym closes at 9pm or later every day, 7 days a week and during breaks as well was perfect for students, league players and school team members. Any "scheduled" open gym hours don't work in general because many students who join leagues and those on the school team as well might not always want to play games when using the gym. Many of these students may need to use the gym during quiet times to practice and work on their games. It's very critical for players in leagues, intramurals and the school team to have the ability to practice in the gym during down times as well. This is why the previous unscheduled open gym routine works perfect. If there were any minor altercations in the past it's in the minority and it's not fair to penalize 99% of the students who pay activity fees who have never caused any issues. Instead, the students should be given a chance to show responsibility and accountability for keeping the facilities in good, clean conditions after usage. Posts can also be put up encouraging students to do self monitoring to keep the facilities in good order. Simon Fraser is one of the most reknowned universities in our country for both sports and academia. It's a shame that the school and the recreational department has to change what has been working so well all these years. If the gym schedule doesn't change back to it's old system, we, the students will start a refund movement to get our activity fees refunded from our tuitions and we will fill out a waiver form to not pay activity fees anymore in the future out of our tuitions as most of us have been forced to play our sports in other schools' facilities ever since these unfair changes were made anyways. Please consider changing the gym schedule back to it's previous "unscheduled" open gym system where students can use the facilities as long as there's no activities going on and where the gym would open until at least 9pm on both weekdays and weekends as well as during breaks in between semesters. And please give SFU students a chance to show how responsible and reliable we are to our own school and to other schools as well. We hope our school's strong athletic tradition can carry on. Sincerely, The Undersigned