As a junior at the University of Oklahoma, I've heard a generous amount of positives regarding most of the newer facilities on campus. With that being said, I've also heard an overwhelming amount of critiques regarding many of the aged facilities at OU's Norman campus. In my time at OU, the facility that has received the most criticism is the gym, AKA the Sarkeys Fitness Center.

Across America when people think of the University of Oklahoma, the word that would come to mind for many would be "excellence." Unfortunately, when discussing the Sarkeys Fitness Center, the best word students could use to describe it is "acceptable." Currently, there aren't very many machines and there are a plethora of other improvements that can be made (equipment spacing, gym temperature, more equipment wipes, new water fountains, etc). We believe that a university as prestigious as OU should have a state-of-the-art facility for their student body to use. If the University of Oklahoma were to allocate funding to Sarkeys, we truly believe that this idea can be a reality.

News continues to break about the University of Oklahoma's ability and commitment to fund just about anything that revolves around the football program. While we understand that OU relies heavily on the revenue from the football program, the student body is what truly makes OU excellent! Year after year, hundreds of millions of dollars are funneled into the football stadium and it becomes disheartening to feel like an afterthought. We, the students of the University of Oklahoma, want to feel like we're also important to the institution of higher learning that we chose to attend.

Now is the time to fight for this change because this past semester (Fall 2022) the University of Oklahoma had its largest influx of students in OU's history. While the large amount of incoming students is great for the university, it is especially hard on the regularly-used facilities. More and more studies seem to point to the fact that exercise, diet, mental and physical health are all connected. OU's admin have expressed that our mental well-being is of the utmost importance to them and I believe that this is an opportunity for them to prove their commitment to us, their student body. Boomer Sooner!