Students have been complaining about Saint Xavier University’s Shannon Athletic Center hours. The vast majority of student complaints come from resident students. Ramon Diaz, a senior resident student, had this to say about the Shannon Center’s hours: “It [the Shannon Center] should be open longer. If I want to workout or play basketball after night class I can’t because it’ll close at 9:30 at the latest. And if I want to workout on the weekends its frustrating because I am very restricted in when I can go because of the hours.”
The Shannon Center’s hours are as following: Monday through Thursday; 6:00 a.m. – 9:30 p.m., Friday; 6:00 a.m. – 8:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday; 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. The total amount of weekday hours that the Shannon Center has is seventy-six and a half. On the weekends the Shannon Center is open a total of sixteen hours.
These hours are significantly shorter than other Chicagoland schools. Weekday hours refer to hours during Monday through Friday. Hours on Saturday and Sunday are weekend hours.
DePaul University’s fitness center, The Ray, offers its students eighty-eight and half weekday hours and thirty hours on the weekend.
Loyola’s Halas Recreation Center has ninety weekday hours and thirty-two weekend hours.
The Gerald Ratner Athletics Center at University of Chicago has eighty-seven weekday hours and twenty-six weekend hours.
University of Illinois at Chicago’s Student Recreation Center has eighty-three weekday hours and twenty-four weekend hours.
Northwestern’s Henry Crown Sports Pavilion offers students eighty-four weekday hours and twenty-seven weekend hours.
When compared to those Chicago-area schools’s fitness centers, the Shannon Center’s hours are substantially shorter, but those schools are do not serve as effective comparisons. Their enrollment sizes are significantly higher than Saint Xavier’s.
Comparing the Shannon Center’s hours to the following schools is more effective because they are similar in enrollment sizes and commuter versus resident ratios: Aurora University, Lewis University, North Central College, Olivet Nazarene University, Roosevelt University and Wheaton College. Aurora University’s Alumni Hall has seventy-six weekday hours and six weekend hours.
The Student Recreation and Fitness Center at Lewis University has fifty-seven weekday hours and four weekend hours.
North Central College’s Res/Rec Center has eighty hours open during the week and twenty-eight weekend hours.
Olivet Nazarene’s Fitness Center offers forty-nine weekday hours and twenty-eight weekend hours.
Roosevelt fitness center, the Barry Crown Fitness Center, is open sixty-seven hours during the weekdays and eighteen hours during weekends.
Wheaton College’s Sports and Recreation Complex has eighty-five weekday hours and eighteen weekend hours.
Those schools do have fitness centers with hours comparable to the Shannon Center. Out of those schools and Saint Xavier, the Shannon Center ranks third-most in total hours.
However, in terms of weekend hours, the Shannon Center is second to last, beating only Aurora University’s Alumni Hall.
Jennifer Kjos Quinlan, the Facility Director of the Shannon Center, had this to say when asked about the Shannon Center’s hours: “The busiest time for us is from 2:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on weekdays.”
But, according to Quinlan, after that time the amount of people using the Shannon Center is very low. Quinlan is very open to lengthening the Shannon Center’s hours, but first there has to be more demand to keep it open.
If the Shannon Center were to expand its hours, but no one uses it during those extended hours then the funds acquired to do that would go to waste.
Quinlan noted that nearly every night when the Shannon Center closes at 9:30 there are less than a handful of people using the fitness center.
Furthermore, those people tend to be the same ones that utilize it at those times.
Before anyone considers extending the hours of the Shannon Center there has to be more demand by students to use the Shannon Center at times not currently available because students constitute most of its users.
Not everyone has issues with the Shannon Center’s though. Perla Sahagun said, “I usually work out during the weekdays instead of the weekends since they are open earlier and later during the week. It makes me adjust my schedule better.”
Students like Perla, may adjust their schedules to work with the Shannon Center’s hours and develop habits like waking up earlier and getting their days started earlier at the same time.
David Rodrigues
News Editor
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