Correction Appended
As I prepared for my recent weeklong visit to Seoul National University (SNU), the last thing I expected was to be jealous of its facilities. The campus is spacious enough. Most of its buildings can be charitably described as functional. Offices are clean and well kept, if a bit sterile. An on-campus coffee house offers a pleasant source of caffeine and conversation. Still, no one would confuse SNU with the bucolic Princeton campus.
But then I entered the gym. From the outside, the five-year-old POSCO Sports Center looks like an airplane hangar. But inside it is spacious and airy with a glass facade that provides ample natural light, and bright colors that add to its cheerful atmosphere. The building houses a swimming pool, an indoor golfing range, a fitness center and squash courts, not to mention a sports equipment shop and a nice cafe where light lunches and drinks are served amidst newspapers, magazines and chatting students and faculty. The exercise room has ample quantities of modern equipment, flat-screen TVs, trainers who roam the floor with advice to “keep your back straight” and “extend your legs,” and nary an “out of order” sign to be found. The facility offers not only towel service, but shorts and T-shirt service as well; pick your size on the way in, toss the dirty laundry in a bin before departing. The locker rooms are modern and comfortable, complete with a spotless sauna and Jacuzzi. The showers offer separate containers of decent soap, shampoo and conditioner, which are never empty, or worse, green goo. The hairdryers are the hand-held type, blow hot air, and can be used even by those who are shorter than six foot, three inches. The locker doors actually close and lock with a borrowed key. All in all, a tension-releasing, healthful and entirely pleasant experience.
My positive experience with a school gym was not unique to Korea, though it was rather shocking in a public university with no endowment to speak of in a country with half the average income of ours. But the gyms at Northwestern and Penn are similarly enticing.
Dillon felt outdated when I arrived at Princeton in 1980 and has barely changed since. The mustard-yellow walls with exposed piping are depressing. There are far too many lockers, half of which sport broken doors. The exercise equipment is insufficient for demand and too often in disrepair. Only about five of 20 squash courts are operational, and those are in poor shape. There are no towels to be had and frequently no soap in the dispensers. The heating and cooling system in the locker room is inadequate. A few unappealing vending machines offer the only post-exercise snacking options. In short, it is not a particularly agreeable place to visit. Everybody knows this and has known it for quite some time.
Why does the faculty care about the University’s gym facilities? After all, most of us can easily afford membership in a private health club. Speaking for myself, I would say that convenience is the key. I spend many hours on campus and have frequent breakfast liaisons, lunchtime workshops and late afternoon seminars and meetings, not to mention dinnertime visits to the tres elegant Wilcox dining hall and the occasional evening talk in McCosh or Dodds. Finding a block of time to get off campus for a workout is a daunting challenge for me. When I did join a local health club some years ago, I hardly ever made it over there. And, of course, unlike the students, I don’t have the option to head back to a dorm room afterward to shower and change.
The gym can play a relatively unique role in campus social life. It is one of the few places where students, faculty and staff mix, and on entirely equal footing! Now I will admit that Stephens is not my favorite place to be asked whether the required readings are fair game for the exam (they were, after all, required) or whether the growing trade between Burkina Faso and Belarus would make a good topic for a dissertation chapter. Still, there is nothing like seeing the pained expression of a professor in the act of lifting to make a him seem more human to his students and vice versa.
I understand that the University has many important priorities. But, come on guys. If Seoul National can do it right, why can’t we?
Gene Grossman is a professor in the economics department and the Wilson School. He can be reached at grossman@princeton.edu.
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CORRECTION:
An earlier version of this column incorrectly identified the author as Jean Grossman, a professor in the Wilson School. In fact, it was written by Gene Grossman, her husband. The Daily Princetonian regrets the error.
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