The Morren Fitness Center has added an additional six hours to total being open 80 hours a week.

As of January 29, the fitness center is now open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through Thursday—a whole hour later than it used to close. The fitness center will also be open two hours longer on Saturday, opening from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

This decision was the result of a proposal put together by student senate, who is funding the additional gym hours.

Adding more hours to the fitness center provides students and faculty more flexibility when fitting a workout into a busy schedule.

Senate representative Kennedy Genzin explained that students can work out later at night and that more students with busy daytime schedules will be able to use the facilities.

However, the changes to the gym schedule are receiving mixed reviews.

Facility Director Justin TeBrake is excited to reach out to more students with the extended hours. However, he said, “The downside is that more use means more wear and tear on the machines.”

Not only is the equipment affected by this change—the staff are too.

“That’s an extra weekend shift that people have to cover now,” says junior Devin Hulsebos. “We rotate on the weekends so now there’s also more rotations [to fill with staff hours].” Thus, the schedule rotates faster now due to the added extra shift, requiring students to work weekends more frequently.

On a typical night, the staff doesn’t go home when the fitness center closes. Student workers must wait for everyone to leave, typically taking a half hour to close the gym before they can clean up and lock the doors. The process takes longer when people stay late or leave equipment around for staff to pick up.

“It took me 45 minutes yesterday to close,” says Hulsebos.

Longer fitness center hours means that students will have to wait later in the evening to begin the closing procedure and even later before they leave for the night.

TeBrake acknowledges the increased expectation on workers, explaining, “the extended hours will require more time worked by our fitness center staff, but it also means the staff from Building Services will have to be here later. They need to clean after the fitness center is closed.”

Despite the varied responses, TeBrake and Student Senate hope the changes will provide a better gym experience for more students.