Throwback Thursday: Brooklyn College Opens Campus Track to Community

Date: March 20, 2019 Author: kingsmanbc1180 Comments

Read the articles below or click here for the PDF version: FINAL — KINGSMANSPRING2019ISSUE

Brooklyn College Opens Campus Track to Community

By Cheyann Harris, Staff Writer, Reporting Assistance from Quiara Vasquez

Brooklyn College is opening its track to the public, as part of a wider push to help students remain physically active.

Starting Monday, Mar. 18, the track behind the West Quad building will be open to students and faculty from 11 to 3 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and from noon to 3 p.m. on Sundays.

Senior VP for Finance and Administration Alan Gilbert pushed to open up the track to the BC community as part of his “Health and Wellness Initiative.” It’s only been a year since Gilbert took the Senior VP post at Brooklyn College, but he says he has a list of plans to help Brooklyn College students feel more secure on campus. He started from inside of the school, trying to fix problems in the bathrooms by administering the “90-day challenge” in spring 2018, where he challenged himself and his offices to see how many issues they could fix in 90 days.

While Gilbert and his team are focused on fixing the interior of the campus, they are also working to increase student activity on campus, both physical and communal. After the Athletics Department began reporting to his offices in late fall, he says his first thought was to give open track access to all students and faculty.

“One of the things I thought we should be doing is opening up our track. I thought it would be important to see if we could open it up as apart of our new wellness program,” Gilbert told The Kingsman. “If students have time between classes, they can walk it.”

The use of the track has not always been free of charge. Undergrads already pay for the track’s upkeep as part of their student activity fees. Faculty and staff were paying for access to the track, and graduate students were paying $18 to access it. But as of March 18, the track will be open at no cost for daily use.

“In theory, people could walk around the quad,” Gilbert said. “But we already have a track there, and it’s not like it’s costing any more.”

“It’s land,” he added. “It’s not like it’s equipment that could be broken.”

As with all student services on campus, some students were not aware we even had a track. Gilbert wants to make sure those students are informed.

“We’re going to keep on advertising,” he said. “We will be doing some sort of opening event with the president and myself in April and we’ll officially welcome everybody.”

The students in the know have been looking forward to the opening. With the track opening so close to the springtime, they have strong hopes that people will actually use it.

“I would use the track because it’s more convenient for me and I think it will help many students start focusing on their health,” said a business major who asked to stay anonymous.

Some members of the BC cross country team were confused by the announcement.

“Occasionally when we were training someone would just come in and run,” said Joshua Casiano, captain of the men’s cross country team. “But I’m surprised to see it open for the public. How’s that gonna work when track people have practice, or the soccer kids in the fall?”

According to Alan Gilbert, the track will be closed during track meets and soccer games. That’s good, says Casiano, who’s been at many track meets where a soccer ball rolled onto the track at high speed. But otherwise, he’s satisfied with the quality of the track itself.

“If it’s a regular sunny day it’s pretty dope,” Casiano said. “There’s the occasional bird s–t, but whatever. Can’t control that.”

This article was originally published on 3/20/19 in the Spring 2019 Issue 7.