The start of the 2022 fall quarter brought many new changes to CWU and what campus has to offer for students. The Recreation Sports Complex (RSC) on campus is no exception to these changes. 

The complex, which features a running track and a synthetic turf field, is no longer available for student drop-in hours.

The change means that students who are not members of clubs, classes or any recreation programs that utilize the sports complex are no longer able to use the field for general recreational purposes as of right now.  

Interim Recreation Director, Michael Montgomery, said there were multiple reasons the department made the decision to stop drop-in hours. 

Montgomery said the department had been gathering usage data of the sports complex over the past couple quarters and found that usage was down. Montgomery said there were many times they had staff working the facility with no one using drop-in hours. 

Combine that with the low enrollment numbers and increase in minimum wage, the department was forced to shift focus on the program’s usage of the field and track, according to Montgomery. 

“With the increase in minimum wage and other stuff, the decision had to be made to stop drop-in hours and just be about the programs,” Montgomery said. 

Having no more drop-in hours for students means that the programs that use the field currently are the RSC’s main focus.

“We had to switch to being more geared around the programs that are operating at the RSC,” Montgomery said. “It is a shared use facility that recreation manages, so we still have athletics, PE classes and then ROTC, both Air Force and Army that use it.”

The recreation has set up an alternative for those who do want to use a field for general recreation purposes. They have set up alternate fields with lines for football and lacrosse at Alder Three to allow for drop-in hours for all students.

“We’ll keep it lined, we’ll rotate lacrosse goals, soccer goals,” Montgomery said. “That’s our drop-in field for the year.”

According to Montgomery, the alternate fields being used from drop-in hours have no lights so they will be available for daytime use only. 

Some students are unaware of the change and have had to find out through other outlets on campus. 

Vice President of CWU’s club baseball team, Colby Davis, said he found out from hearing it within the club program. Davis said not allowing drop-in hours has a big impact on students.

“Some people I know, if they want to work out, they don’t want to go to the gym because it’s always packed,” Davis said. “I know people who walk around that track and just work out there and now they can’t do that.”

Montgomery said overall they are trying to work within their budget and match usage of the field to the cost of running the field. 

Although the changes are set for now, Montgomery said he wants to revisit the decision in the future and find ways to bring back drop-in hours for the RSC.