Universities investing long-term in unions more than gyms
By Muhammad Waheed, Jacob Stolzenbach and Matthew Cregger
Zack Gruzinski, a student at Salisbury University in Maryland, uses the Maggs Physical Activities Center weekly. Gruzinski tends to lift weights and do core exercises. An athlete his whole life, he ran cross country at Howard Community College and played lacrosse at Anne Arundel Community College. He transferred to Salisbury University in fall 2018. Students call it Maggs, and there are two sides to the idea of renovating the aging facility.
“I don’t think our gym needs a new renovation,” Gruzinski said. “It’s fairly large and has plenty of weights. I’m not too picky with gyms. It just needs to have my equipment, but it does seem older than some of the other buildings.”
Salisbury University athletic staff members started a petition to renovate Maggs. The point of the petition is to bring attention to the limited capability of Maggs. Student population has outgrown Maggs.
“I would say the gym needs renovations more than the union does, but I think the only major problem is how cramped the gym can be at busy times,” Gruzinski said.
Maggs is set for renovations that are expected to be completed by 2023.
“The union seems newer than the gym and it looks and feels newer,” Gruzinski said. “I’m not in the union as much as the gym… I don't know what they would renovate for the union.”
Salisbury’s student union is named the Guerrieri Student Union (GSU). It was built in 1988. Maggs was built in 1977. Most schools analyzed in this story -- Northeastern universities, many of which are in the University System of Maryland -- have invested in their gyms over the past 10 years, but Salisbury bucks that trend.
Unions tend to be built before gyms
There is approximately a two-year gap between the mean construction year of unions and that of gyms. On average, construction for unions occurred around 1985 while constructions for gyms began around 1987, according to our analysis of Northeastern universities.
Unions/student centers usually were built first. There have been 11 unions constructed since 2000 compared to nine gyms being built during the same year, according to our analysis.
Towson University’s University Union was built to accommodate the school’s population in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Towson has grown to more than 22,000 students and is considered one of two designated growth universities by the University System of Maryland. Salisbury University is the other designated growth university, according to David Mayhew, director of Towson University’s architecture.
Burdick Hall was constructed in 1973 when the Towson population was a fraction of what it is today. The facility received a 94,000-square foot expansion, according to Lewis Contractors.
Towson’s union was constructed in 1972, when the building was known as the College Union, and is receiving an 85,000-square-foot expansion, according to The Towerlight.
Our analysis of Towson shows that as the population increased, so did the square footage after renovations to Burdick Hall and the University Union.
The University Union was built when Towson University had about 10,000 students, and the school has doubled its population. The same situation happened with Burdick Hall as that facility also outgrew its initial population, Mayhew said.
“Students today are a lot different... This is another reason for renovating or adding or replacing buildings as that the union that was built 50 years ago or the rec center that was built 50 years ago isn’t the one today’s students want or us,” Mayhew said. “ We’re seeing a trend where social buildings like the Union are also places where students work and study.”
University System of maryland schools spend a lot on unions
The University of Maryland System schools spend big on unions and student centers. About $93 million have been poured into unions for USM universities. Four out of five USM universities spent more than $70 million on their unions and student centers. Two out of five USM colleges dropped over $100 million on unions.
Towson University is one of the two schools that spent over $100 million on the renovation of its University Union, which is set to be fully completed by 2021.
Towson University is one of the two schools that spent over $100 million on the renovation of its University Union, which is set to be fully completed by 2021.
“The building itself was created for general use for a campus of less than 10 thousand students,” said Sean Welsh, Towson University’s acting senior director of communications and media relations.
It was time to modernize the union as it is the most utilized building at Towson. Burdick Hall and the University Union were built with a certain student population in mind the Towson University has grown since the original construction, Welsh said.
It was time to modernize the union as it is the most utilized building at Towson. Burdick Hall and the University Union were built with a certain student population in mind the Towson University has grown since the original construction, Welsh said.
Universities spend slightly more on unions than gyms
The amount of money spent by universities on unions and gyms is marginally different. Schools are investing almost $3.5 million more on average into unions over gyms. Our data collection shows that universities are spending a mean of just under $31 million on unions compared to about $27.5 million on gyms
Since 2008, three of the gyms were newly built and Towson University’s Burdick Hall was the only renovation. In the same time period five unions were renovated, and none of them were new buildings.
Towson University is spending $108 million on the union renovation and spent $42.5 million on the gym.
Towson will be adding more eating options and social areas to its University Union, such as a ballroom and theatre. Students eat and study differently now compared to previous generations, Mayhew said.
The union at the college campus can combine social life with academics.
“They get together in groups,” Mayhew said. “They do group projects. They might prefer to work in the union rather the library so we build in collaborative workspaces in all of those buildings… so they like to eat and socialize in the academic buildings as well so this is blurring of the boundaries if you will… there’s some overlap.”
The union at the college campus can combine social life with academics.
“They get together in groups,” Mayhew said. “They do group projects. They might prefer to work in the union rather the library so we build in collaborative workspaces in all of those buildings… so they like to eat and socialize in the academic buildings as well so this is blurring of the boundaries if you will… there’s some overlap.”
THERE ARE MORE RECENT GYM RENOVATIONS over UNION RENOVATIONS
Universities might be spending more money on unions, but there are more recent renovations of gyms.
Gyms are older than unions when it comes to the time between major renovations. The mean age of gyms according to the research conducted for this story when they are renovated is 43 years old while unions are around 41.
Since 2008 there have been eight renovations on gyms and three completely new gyms built. In that same time, there were only five union renovations and no new union buildings constructed.
The National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association sets facility standards which Towson used to justify how big areas had to be for the Burdick Hall expansion, said Grady Sheffield, Towson’s director of campus recreation.
The weight room at Burdick Hall prior to its recent expansion had 6,000 square feet for fitness space while the NIRSA standard is 1,000 square feet per thousand students, Sheffield said.
“We were nowhere near where we needed to be so one of the things that we wanted to do was make sure we had enough fitness space meeting the standard at the time this is back in 2014-2015 whenever we were in the design phase the university was putting out that they expected the university grow to about 23-25,000, and so we were looking to have in this facility 25,000 square feet of fitness floor space,” Sheffield said. “Well we came close. We now have 22,000 square feet of fitness floor space.”
The top three reasons for starting a building project are increasing access, campus growth and aging facilities, The top three reasons to get construction projects approved are facility needs, student initiatives and administrative initiatives, according to NIRSA.
As the population on the campus increases so does the required square-footage for gyms. NIRSA does not set any guidelines for requirements for square-footage of unions.
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the arms race continues
“I think many universities experienced a lot of growth and expansion in the 60s and 70s due to the baby boomer generation reaching college age, and more students going to college,” Mayhew said, “Due to this expansion many new university unions were built during this time.”
Student unions were an adaptation at universities that came alongside gyms to cater to the growing needs of college students as student populations grew and commuters became more common. The union became a more desirable place on college campuses because of its versatility as a center for student life.
Gyms and unions have for a long time shared the same status together as big-ticket items for incoming students sometimes being the deciding factor between competitive academic institutions. It was not always this way.
Though student unions have existed since 1896, beginning with Houston Hall at the University of Pennsylvania, unions are a relatively new phenomenon in comparison to their recreational counterparts. With more students going to college than ever unions have largely been created out of the need for students to have a place to go, most of them after 1950.
Athletic facilities have been a “must have” for universities since 1900, as fitness has always been a priority on college campuses. The first sign of the need for recreation on campuses goes back to the first American college gym built at Harvard University in 1820. The gyms analyzed for this story were mostly replacements for older gyms, such as Eppley Rec Center, built in 1998, replacing the Reckord Armory, built in 1944, at the University of Maryland or Burdick Hall replacing Weidefeld Gymnasium at Towson.
The first university union in the Northeast, according to the universities analyzed for this story, was the Stamp Student Union at the University of Maryland in 1954. The oldest functioning gym according to the same analysis was Lee Hall at SUNY-Oswego, built in 1958.
Colleges prepare years in advance for increases in enrollment going so far as to plan how many student they will enroll a decade in advance and when they will stop increasing their enrollment. This also includes planning when to renovate or replace facilities before they have been outgrown or become outdated, Mayhew said.
Salisbury has had renovations and construction on campus but these upgrades have focused on the academic side. The Teacher Education and Science Center was built for $54.5 million in 2008. The university also upgraded their Library in 2016.
The Patricia R. Guerrieri Academic Commons, which houses the library, cost $117 million. It was the biggest construction progress the campus has undergone since the campus opened in 1925. The building has 221,000 square-feet committed to academics with classrooms and writing centers. The new library is nearly four times the size of the old library. Salisbury has prioritized upgrading academic facilities over unions and gyms.
“If you ask a student what they want more ‘a gym or a library’ they are probably going to chose gym, but the campus needed a new library and the one we got is amazing,” Gruzinski said.
The Patricia R. Guerrieri Academic Commons, which houses the library, cost $117 million. It was the biggest construction progress the campus has undergone since the campus opened in 1925. The building has 221,000 square-feet committed to academics with classrooms and writing centers. The new library is nearly four times the size of the old library. Salisbury has prioritized upgrading academic facilities over unions and gyms.
“If you ask a student what they want more ‘a gym or a library’ they are probably going to chose gym, but the campus needed a new library and the one we got is amazing,” Gruzinski said.