Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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<ot ©amtcock The changing face of use Strom Thurmond Fitness and Wellness Center BY UAKRYL URttN The Gamecock USC students can expect to enjoy lavish accommodations when The Strom Thurmond Fitness and Wellness Center is finished. But students won’t be able to enter the building until 2003, the building’s expected completion date, a date that might have to be pushed back even further. According to Director of Student Life Jerry Brewer, “There may be some necessary delays, which are common in construction, such as bad weather. But we expect to have the building fully operational by January 2003.” Once the building is completed, Brewer said, students will be able to enjoy special amenities that aren’t available at Blatt P.E. Center, the school’s current athletics center. “There’s going to be a four court gym, a climbing wall, a soccer rink, 19,000 square feet set aside for weight lifting and fitness equipment, an indoor and outdoor pool, e-mail and Internet access and food facilities. This is really going to be a great facility,” I Brewer said. Brewer also said the Strom Thurmond Fitness and Wellness Center will have a social component that’s missing from Blatt P.E. Center. “We are building this for the students. The students are our No. 1 priority. This is going to be a place where students are going to be able to come and socialize with their friends and have a good time,” Brewer said. Students will also have exclusive rights to the facility, which won’t be open to the general public. Some memberships will be eventually given to members of the faculty. In the future, memberships might even be sold to alumni for use of the building’s various features. But when it opens, it will only be available to students. Like at the Blatt P.E. Center, students won’t have to pay a fee for general use of the facility. This is due, in part, to the fact that the center is being paid for out of student tuition, aside from a $3 million bond furnished by the state. I Other features of the center will include an indoor track and a hockey rink. The center will also have the benefit of total dedication. “It is not a rarity for [the Blatt P.E. Center] to be used for other purposes,” Brewer said. “Classes and other gatherings are held there, which makes space limited sometimes. This will not be the case in this facility. It will be totally dedicated to fitness.” There’s some concern among students about the distance of the facility in relation to campus. The Strom Thurmond Fitness and Wellness Center is located adjacent to the Carolina Coliseum, making it accessible only by car or shuttle to most students living on campus. Brewer, however, doesn’t think this will be a problem. “It will not be that long of a walk to many students,” Brewer said. “Many students walk to the Coliseum everyday. Plus, many of the students who live off campus park behind the coliseum, making it very accessible to them.” The news desk can be reached at gamecockudesk@hotmail.com Photos by Travis Lynn/The Gamecock Construction on the Strom Thurmond Fitness and Wellness Center should be completed by January 2003. i " DEAN CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 committee for the new dean, Price remains confidant “that we’ll get ourselves a new dean this time around.” Price said he thinks the next person for the job should be someone “who has ideas” and who brings an understanding “of the philosophy that underlies journalism education (and) what is a journalist's job in the greater scheme of things.” Price also said the new dean needs to be deeply committed to getting new facilities for the college, which is located in the basement of the Coliseum. But until the new dean is on board, Price plans to move ahead. “It’s an interesting situation to be an interim,” Price said, “because there are a lot of people who say, ‘Well, let’s just sit here on neutral until we do get a new dean on board and let him make the decisions.’ ... [But] if you don’t move ahead, you fall backward.” The news desk can be reached at gamecockudesk@hotmail.com Think you can do a better job covering USC than us? E-mail ‘fcht 0am track at gamecockeditor@hotmail.com.