Improve House Athletic Facilities

Tired of waiting for treadmills at the Malkin Athletic Center (MAC)? You’re going to have to wait a lot longer. Though a review is underway for the overcrowded, under-equipped athletic space, big changes are a long way away. By the time the University makes any real renovations, most of us who need a place to work out now will be long gone, retiring to trendy, fluorescent lit gyms run by overly creatine-ed young men in skimpy bike shorts and ripped muscle tanks. Yet where to work out in the short run?

There are athletic facilities in every House, though they aren’t always adequate. Some houses, such as Leverett House, provide their residents with a good alternative to trudging over to the MAC with exercise bikes, treadmills and weight sets. I, however, recently stumbled upon the Winthrop House “gym,” which sadly consists of a forlorn and forgotten dumbbell in the corner of a basement used for student storage.

If only all Houses were created equal. If Winthrop House (and others like it) had decent exercise rooms, I wouldn’t have to trudge up the MAC’s ice-encrusted steps just to wait for a cardio machine in a sweaty room for an hour and a half. Instead, I could strut down the heated corridors of Winthrop and not have to wait at all. Even if revamped house gyms did become crowded, I could add my name to a list and easily return later.

The MAC renovations will require large-scale planning, construction and inconveniences. For their part, Houses need to do more than maintain aging and unsatisfactory equipment in their athletic facilities. If they replace the rusted weights and gasping treadmills with some elliptical machines and multi-purpose weight benches, empty House gyms would no longer be so pathetic.

Harvard students should not be shriveled, pale creatures grunting for breath as they climb the steps of Widener; rather, they should bound energetically through the streets, head held high above well toned shoulders. Exercise is a vital part of any person’s well being; a nice long run or a few bench presses can effectively combat the stresses of academic life better than talk therapy or pints of Ben and Jerry’s. Houses must stop neglecting the health of their residents, and make it a priority.

—Sophie L. Gonick is an editorial comper.