Spring Break
$100,000 weight room plan finalized
by Miranda Neubauer
Senior Writer
News | 10/21/08
Posted online at 4:20 AM EST on 10/21/08
The University signed a $100,000 contract with Gym Source equipment company for a new weight room, scheduled to be finished around Thanksgiving, after addressing Student Union concerns, University administrators told the Justice.
In a campuswide poll last May, students voted to spend $100,000 of the Student Union's rollover money from the Student Activities Fee toward a new weight room in the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center.
All current weight room equipment will be replaced with Cybex and other brands of equipment, Assistant Athletic Director Robin Seidman '00 said, amounting to about 60 items. Once the equipment arrives in the next six to eight weeks, he said, it will take a day to remove the old weights and a day and a half to install the new equipment in the room, which will also be re-painted during the renovation.
The University received bids from three vendors and decided on Gym Source, with an exact final price for the new equipment of $100,000, according to Union Treasurer Max Wallach '09.
"We were getting a little bit nervous because the price of steel was going up," Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer said, adding that he was happy the University could close the deal before prices rose again.
Sawyer said that vendors were originally asked to bid at a few different prices. He said Union members expected contractors' various bids to be farther apart in price than they were and to begin at a price closer to $50,000. This caused some delay in the start of the project because the bids were all very close to $100,000.
He said administrators then explained to Union members that $50,000 was an unrealistic price to expect because weight rooms available for that price would not fulfill quality expectations.
Athletics Director Sheryl Sousa '90 said that the Athletics department spoke with other universities and undertook site visits before choosing the vendor, over two other bids at the beginning of the semester. In meetings over the past month, Sawyer and Sousa said, administration officials and Union members finalized the exact terms of the plan.
In a campuswide poll last May, students voted to spend $100,000 of the Student Union's rollover money from the Student Activities Fee toward a new weight room in the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center.
All current weight room equipment will be replaced with Cybex and other brands of equipment, Assistant Athletic Director Robin Seidman '00 said, amounting to about 60 items. Once the equipment arrives in the next six to eight weeks, he said, it will take a day to remove the old weights and a day and a half to install the new equipment in the room, which will also be re-painted during the renovation.
The University received bids from three vendors and decided on Gym Source, with an exact final price for the new equipment of $100,000, according to Union Treasurer Max Wallach '09.
"We were getting a little bit nervous because the price of steel was going up," Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer said, adding that he was happy the University could close the deal before prices rose again.
Sawyer said that vendors were originally asked to bid at a few different prices. He said Union members expected contractors' various bids to be farther apart in price than they were and to begin at a price closer to $50,000. This caused some delay in the start of the project because the bids were all very close to $100,000.
He said administrators then explained to Union members that $50,000 was an unrealistic price to expect because weight rooms available for that price would not fulfill quality expectations.
Athletics Director Sheryl Sousa '90 said that the Athletics department spoke with other universities and undertook site visits before choosing the vendor, over two other bids at the beginning of the semester. In meetings over the past month, Sawyer and Sousa said, administration officials and Union members finalized the exact terms of the plan.
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George Patsourakos
posted 10/21/08 @ 12:10 PM EST
George Patsourakos
Brandeis University's new weight room -- which is scheduled to open next month -- will be a great boon for Brandeis students. For one thing, the weight room will assist students in improving their health and in feeling better, since most students probably do not get the amount of exercise they really need. (Continued…)
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