The Peter W. Stott Center recently lowered locker fees, thanks to an increase in student fee funds, from $21 a term to $5 a term.
Keith Mettie, Stott Center building manager, said the subsidy from Student Fee Committee funds made the reduction possible.
“The Student Fee Committee is subsidizing the fees to offer greater access to the locker room for a greater number of students,” Mettie explained.
The fee includes an assigned basket, containing a towel, T-shirt, shorts and a lock. The fee also includes temporary day use of a half-length locker.
Paying the basic locker fee affords the option to upgrade to a full-time locker for an additional $12 a term. That fee remains the same as the previous schedule.
“There is no additional fee to use any other recreational area,” Mettie said. That would include the pool, tennis courts, basketball courts, weight rooms and racquetball courts.
Mettie explained a $14 service fee would be assessed if a student fails to turn in a basket at the end of the term. He said that $14 has been the amount for two years.
Mettie suggested that other areas of Portland State University charge more than $14 for similar services.
If a student rents a general-use locker in Neuberger Hall or Cramer Hall and fails to vacate the locker at the end of the term, there is an assessment of a $10 locker-cleaning fee and $20 storage fee. The student is advised the locker has been cleaned out and its contents may be retrieved.
In the Stott Center, tennis courts may be reserved with a sign-up sheet available at the courts and may be used for one hour a day. Similar sheets are available for racquetball courts.
There is a change this year in the use of gym areas for informal basketball.
“Under the old policy, when the main gym and the small gym were not reserved, they were closed,” Mettie said. “If a gym was not reserved, it was not available.”
Now the small gym is available for drop-ins when not reserved. At such time, the lights remain on. However, students wishing to use the gym must first go to the locker room and get a wristband.
They must wear this wristband all the time they are using the gym. This is to allow staff to exclude persons from the gym who are not eligible to use it.
“We instituted the new policy to give students additional recreational opportunities,” Mettie said.
Mettie said the imposition of a locker room fee became a factor after the major in physical education was eliminated in the early ’90s. This took the Stott Center out of its function as a major academic facility.
Budget cuts made necessary by the passage of Measure 5 required the center to generate income to help cover expenses. Mettie recalled when the locker rooms had a number of full-time staff employees. Now each locker room has only one coordinator, the remainder being student employees.