By SHANNON O. WELLS
A mostly positive discussion of the soon-to-open campus Recreation and Wellness Center during a meeting of the Campus Utilization, Planning and Safety Committee (CUPS) on Sept. 2 also touched on concerns regarding access, user capacity and possible fees for some in the Pitt community, including faculty and staff.
David Salcido, chair of the CUPS committee and assistant professor of emergency medicine, spoke enthusiastically of a recent tour he and other committee member took of the nine-story O’Hara Street facility, which he called “really a monumental achievement.”
Noting the “ongoing discussion” about access for staff and faculty, and acknowledging that “some of that's outside of our purview,” Salcido said about the facility, “on the record, ‘Really, job well done.’ From what we saw, it looked like it's going to add very meaningfully to our campus experience here.
“It was really a joy to see it and experience it firsthand,” he added, thanking Gina Bleck, vice chancellor for planning, design & construction, for facilitating the tour.
Committee member Ben Gordon, associate professor in the Dietrich School’s Department of Religious Studies, said while he was “wowed” during a recent tour of the facility, he also has concerns about where faculty and staff members can work out and swim, given recent access restrictions at the Trees Hall pool and closure of the Bellefield Hall pool.
“This is a very exciting moment for the community,” he said during an open discussion after the CUPS committee had concluded its regular agenda items. “I do have some concerns that I've already expressed to you, and I know others in the community share them, about the (Wellness and Recreation Center) aquatic center.
“This is a significant downgrade for the Pitt community, from the Trees natatorium, which has been an incredible asset for the community, to this relatively small indoor facility in the new rec center. I would like to hear more about the decision-making behind that.”
Gordon was referring to the six-lane pool on the fifth floor of the recreation center, which is set to open to students on Sept. 14. The state-of-the-art facility includes an aquatics center, indoor jogging track, courts, weight and cardio zones, climbing wall, an e-sports lounge, and wellness suites.
Pool crowding concerns
This summer, both Trees and the older Bellefield Hall pool were available to students as well as faculty and staff through July 18. While the Trees facility remains in use for Pitt Athletics, it’s not currently available to faculty and staff. The Bellefield pool is now permanently closed.
Noting that he hopes the “powers that be” decide to open Trees again to those outside athletics, Ben Gordon said he’s “personally curious about lane-usage data over the years at the various pools,” including at Trees and Bellefield “and how that data contributed to this decision, if it did at all. Because my concern is that we're going to see significant crowding in that pool, which will disincentivize usage.”
A statement on the Recreation and Wellness Center web page says, “These facilities, though they have served our community well, are significantly outdated and would require substantial investment to remain operational for faculty and staff. Additionally, usage data shows that fewer than 3% of eligible faculty and staff used these facilities in the past year.”
Reducing access to swimming pools from what faculty and staff have grown accustomed to, he added, “runs counter to what I think (Pitt health and recreation leaders) will want, which is healthy bodies and happy people here in the community. And swimming is a great way to achieve that,” he noted. “That's a concern that I have coming out of that visit.”
In comments shared after the CUPS meeting, Gordon said going from a total of three pools at Trees and Bellefield down to one at the Wellness and Recreation Center, with limited access for faculty and staff, seems a step in the wrong direction.
“The new rec center pool will have only six lanes for lap swimming, which strikes me as woefully inadequate for a campus community of our size,” he said. “It’s not clear to me why recreation fees cannot be utilized to provide for some limited daily hours of recreational use at Trees.”
Acknowledging that he understands the need to close Bellefield, it remains “unclear to me why it would apply to the Trees pool, which will continue to be used by our aquatics teams, and I assume our Pitt swim club.”
During the CUPS meeting, Gina Bleck said although she wasn’t aware “what metrics were used about the sizing of things,” she noted that the footprint of the Wellness and Rec Center building although “very large, at 270,000 square feet, the pool area is modest.”
Confirming that access to the Trees pool continues for athletics, Bleck said she would check on how the decisions were made and report back to the committee.
Union negotiations continue
Officials from both the Pitt Staff Union and the Union of Pitt Faculty, which are both part of the United Steelworkers (USW), say they’re in discussions with the University regarding access and fees.
A Pitt spokesman confirmed that access to the wellness center and a membership fee structure are negotiation topics for the initial collective bargaining agreement (CBA) covering represented staff.
“While CBA negotiations continue, we will not offer represented staff access to the (rec center),” the spokesman said. “Once the University and the USW have ratified a CBA that includes a membership fee structure for represented staff, access to the (rec center) will be based on the agreed-upon membership fee structure.”
For all other eligible employees, including represented faculty, Pitt is finalizing the employee membership fee, which the Office of Human Resources said it will announce soon.
Given that the facility was “always planned with students as its intended primary user base,” the Pitt spokesman said the goal regarding overall cost of membership for employees remains “to make it affordable but in line with market costs.”
Pragmatic solutions
Salcido said it seems the Recreation and Wellness Center is “going to be the main place for faculty and staff to access (for exercise and recreation) eventually.”
As a “fan of creative solutions,” he anticipates a reservation-based use system as part of a strategy “that makes sure that our students stay in their comfort zone and stay safe.
“Which is not to say that faculty and staff are dangerous, but touring that facility, the thought that I kept coming back to is it is so well designed for the student experience … I worry that without some siloing — without some reservation of time or space for faculty and staff — if there's substantial usage outside the student population, it could get crowded and it could be non-ideal for everyone.”
Regarding Pitt Athletics’ use of the Trees pool, Salcido said, “Pragmatist that I am, I figure if it's there and doesn't always have the swim team in it, there's probably a way to let other folks use it.”
Salcido noted that the topic of recreation access and fees will be revisited in future CUPS meetings.
“I think there needs to be some clarity on what level we can discuss the options for accessing the Recreation and Wellness Center, given the discussions with the unions,” he said. “But we can certainly comment on the need and what we know of the center as a building, because that's within our purview.”
Shannon Wells is a University Times reporter. Reach him at shannonw@pitt.edu.
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