Rationale

Universities across the country are realizing the importance of recreational facilities in enhancing the overall campus Quality of Life and are providing their students with state of the art recreational facilities. The National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA) recently reported that there is approximately $4.38 billion in recreation facility construction underway in the next 6 years.

Campus Recreation facilities are a necessary component in recruitment and retention of students. Recreation Centers create an atmosphere that encourages students, faculty and staff to interact in a casual environment and provide them with the resources to enable them to lead a wellness lifestyle.

Rationale for Stony Brook University to construct the Campus Recreation Center

• Total Enrollment of 23,000 students and over 11,000 faculty staff.
• Stony Brook does not have sufficient recreation and fitness space to serve the needs of the campus community.
• Space limitations have forced many students to seek recreation options off campus.
• Currently have one facility to accommodate Athletics (16 Teams), Open Recreation, Intramural Program and (26 Sport Clubs) and campus-wide Special events.
• Since the move to Division I Athletics there has become an increased demand on the Sports Complex facilities for practices. All 16 Athletic Teams practice year round either as a team or individually with coaches. This has placed a tremendous impact on the amount of open recreation time available to the campus community.
• Current Wellness Center (3,300 sq. ft.) to accommodate over 34,000 members of campus community. The recommended space allocation for College Fitness spaces for Cardiovascular and Strength Training allocation is 1.5 square foot/student enrolled on campus. For Stony Brook University it is recommended that 32,500 square feet be allocated for cardio-vascular + strength training and we presently have 3,300 square feet.
• The Wellness Center can only accommodate 80 users at a given time. Each evening the staff turns away at a minimum 20 people/hour due to overcrowding.
• The department offers (47) Fitness Classes utilizing the Dance Studio in the Sports Complex (30 participants) and the Studio located in the SAC (20 participants). Each night 20-30 students are turned away from classes due to overcrowding.
• Due to the volume of fitness classes scheduled in each studio we can not meet the demand by sport clubs and other student clubs that would like to reserve these spaces for practices.
• Stony Brook is allocated 3 hours/4 days/week between 8pm – 11pm to organize a comprehensive Intramural Program. Universities with a dedicated Campus Recreation Center have the flexibility to offer Intramurals at a variety of times increasing the opportunity for more participation by students.
• Of the (26) Sport Clubs registered at Stony Brook (6) clubs receive scheduled times in the facility which is mostly on weekends and in the Dance Studio’s. New clubs that would like to form and that need access to Indoor Facilities are discouraged from forming, since the Sports Complex can not accommodate their practice and competition requirements.