UA challenges U. over Gimbel fees, payment

But a top official said he would only consider changing options for membership payment. Despite the popularity of the new Katz Fitness Center in Gimbel Gymnasium, members of the Undergraduate Assembly said they will challenge the Recreation Department about the need to charge students a usage fee for the gym. Lisa Lerer, a member of the UA's Student Life Committee, said she will ask Recreation Director Mike Diorka to justify the need for a fee and ask him whether the fee, $75 per year, will continue indefinitely. Lerer, a College sophomore, said she will also ask Diorka to allow students to put the fee on their bursar bills. Currently, students must pay with cash or a money order. "I feel that Gimbel is an excellent facility and the UA had a part in proposing the gym and the purpose of the gym is excellent but we can go further with it," Lerer said. "Students want to know where this money is going and why the $75 can't go on the Penn Card." But Diorka said he will consider only one of the requests -- allowing students to pay with the PennCard and be charged on their bursar bill. Diorka seemed surprised that students continue to contest the fee. "This issue has pretty much been discussed thoroughly in the last two years that I have been here," Diorka said. Diorka cited a report done for the University by the Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm Brailsford & Dunlavey. The firm conducted a 1 1/2 year study of Penn's recreation and fitness facilities. The report, which surveyed Penn students, staff and faculty, found most students willing to pay up to $150 per semester for an improved fitness center. The report suggested that user fees would subsidize a part of the total project costs for a completely renovated Gimbel, which they estimated will carry a price tag of $60 million. So far the University has only renovated part of the gym and has not yet announced plans to add floors, although administrators said they are considering more extensive long-term work. "I don't see a need for rehashing the same old information because last year the University accepted the terms of the report and indicated a willingness to look into feasibility studies for financing recreational programs and ideas," Diorka said. "It has been forcefully mentioned by [Recreation] that we are committed to improving the recreational facilities on this campus, so I am not sure where these questions are going," he added. Current user fees, which are smaller than Brailsford & Dunlavey recommended, represent a "departure from the firm's recommendations," University President Judith Rodin said. And judging by the long sign-up lines and the busy gym, the user fees don't seem to have dampened students' enthusiasm about the new gym. Engineering sophomore Theo LeCompte, a UA representative, questioned Diorka in a recent meeting as to "why the fitness center cannot be part of the bursar bill." Diorka said he considered this concern "legitimate," since it is a customer issue. "The matter should be resolved for the next academic year as we go on-line with a new recreational management system," Diorka said. "The new system will enable us to have better accountability for our budgetary process."

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