Stott Center laundry service cut

    Portland State University will cut laundry services in the Peter W. Stott Center at the beginning of fall term, while increasing fees for locker rentals by about 60 percent.

    The money saved will help fund the resurfacing of the Community Recreation Field on campus that will cost close to $300,000, along with ensuring that hours of use for the Stott Center do not decrease. Locker rental fees will increase in the fall from $12.50 per term to $21 per term.

    Portland State is currently one of the only universities in the country that still offers towels, shirts and shorts for student use. The shirts and shorts will no longer be offered in the fall, but towels will still be available for students and faculty that pay locker rental fees.

    Randy Miller, director of physical education service programs at the Stott Center, said PSU will save $200,000 by cutting the laundry service – $180,000 in labor costs, and $20,000 for soap and maintenance of the washing machines.

    Miller said that the increased locker rental fee and the cutback in laundry services might have a negative impact on students, but that it is a national trend the university must follow.

    ”It’s better to sacrifice this than cut back on hours we offer services,” Miller said.

Miller said he thinks that as much as one-third of students will stop using the locker room in the fall. He said that fees around campus are increasing, and this increase in fees will “be the last straw on the camel’s back.”

    The money that has subsidized locker fees for the last few years and the money saved from cutting back on laundry will be used to pay for the resurfacing of the Community Recreation Field in front of the Stott Center.

    Initially PSU was going to resurface the field next year. Miller said the reason PSU has decided to resurface the field this year is because they were offered $500,000 off the regular cost.

    The normal price of $800,000 will shrink to $300,000 if Portland State resurfaces the field by 2007. Miller said that officials hope to begin resurfacing in December and it will take about two or three weeks to complete. Also in December, Miller said the university will install lights on the field to increase usability times.

    Former Portland State student Jesse Inkpen, a regular user of the Stott Center and its laundry service, said that the cancellation of free workout clothes is unfortunate and could possibly discourage enough students from using the facility that the cost saved will be negligible in light of the lost revenue.

    ”Why dissuade students from using the facilities when they are the ones helping to pay for it?” Inkpen said.

    He said he will not stop using the Stott Center in the fall, but he has heard of some protest plans from other students. “Some people were talking about showing up naked, but I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Inkpen said.

    All decisions regarding fees and programs offered for the Stott Center are made by the Student Recreation Center Advisory Board, of which Miller is a committee member.

    The superintendent of the men’s locker room, Charlie Lucas, estimates that over 5,000 students use the Stott Center in a regular school year. About 500 faculty and 200 alumni also use the recreation center regularly. Lucas said around 30 percent of student users and 80 percent of faculty users utilize the free laundry service.

    Lucas said that while PSU will be offering fewer services, the university is still ahead of University of Oregon and Oregon State University, neither of whom offers towels.

    ”We still offer something that is better than what [students] can get out of other universities,” Lucas said.

    Miller said that with the increase of locker fees, more students and faculty will change their clothes in the Stott Center restrooms, which he said was the case four years ago before the fees were subsidized.

    In 2002, PSU stopped offering free use of swimsuits, jockstraps and sweatpants for students and faculty. The same year, locker rental fees decreased from $21 to $5. The per-term fee was increased to $12.50 last year, and will return to $21 this year. A locker can also be rented for an entire year for $50.

    Miller said that he does not believe the university will ever offer free workout clothes in the future.

    “It would be irresponsible to use funds for laundry services when there are so many other issues on campus to deal with,” Miller said.