Students to Vote on Fee Hike for Fitness Center

Students will decide next month on whether they want to pay for a proposed multimillion-dollar fitness center at Cal State Fullerton.

In a special election to be held on campus March 24, students will vote on a referendum that would hike their student fees by as much as $150 per semester.

The money would go toward building a 187,833-square-foot complex that would house a 5,000-seat arena, a state-of-the art gym, locker rooms, showers and community rooms.

If students pass the fee increase, they will start paying in the fall. The complex would be completed in the next four years, said Heith Rothman, president of the university’s student government, Associated Students, which would build and operate it. The cost of the center is estimated at $42 million. Associated Students would issue bonds, which would be repaid by the fees.

Students would get to use the complex for free, he said, adding that those who pay but graduate before it opens would get a chance to use it without charge for a limited time. The gym would be open to the public and would operate much like any other fitness center, offering memberships for a fee.

Similar proposals were passed many years ago at San Diego State University and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Students there paid special fees for fitness centers, which opened in the last few years.

The Fullerton center “has the potential to truly aid in the recruitment and retention of students,” Rothman said. “Right now, there are only 300 students living on campus, and there is no overwhelming demand for the university to build more dorms. . . . If you build more excellent things on campus, you really encourage more people to live on campus. It really adds to campus life.”

Carolyn Kittell, a 19-year-old student who lives at the dorms, agreed.

“It would attract a lot more students and a lot more money. One hundred and fifty dollars is not really that much.”

But Steve Lee, a 19-year-old business student, said, “I don’t think it’s worth $150 per semester, and I wouldn’t use it. That’s something I don’t need.”

Rothman said the fee has yet to be established.

“It will be no less than $100 and no more than $150,” he said. The fee will be determined and posted before the election, he said.

Full-time students pay $973.50 in student fees each semester. Part-time students pay $640.50. If the referendum passes, all pupils would have to pay the extra fee. The student population numbers about 25,000.

The proposed complex would have an arena where basketball, volleyball and badminton could be played. The seats would be retractable, stadium-style.

The campus’ basketball court, built more than 25 years ago, has bleacher-style seating for no more than 3,000 spectators, Rothman said.

He said the weight room is old and small, and its equipment is outdated.

“The current facilities are pathetic,” the 22-year-old president said. “There’s no air-conditioning. The racquetball courts are small and dark. All the equipment is antiquated.”

The new center would include several activity rooms that could be used for classes on martial arts, aerobics and gymnastics; a climbing wall; and a possible indoor track. Baby-sitting services also would be offered.

Times staff writer Lon Eubanks contributed to this report.