The strength and conditioning center is the only big gym that all students can easily access on campus, additionally, it is the only gym that provides equipment like squat racks, lat pull down machines, or heavy dumbbells. Because of the strength and conditioning center’s large space, the gym is often not crowded, as there is often plenty of equipment open for students to enjoy. Other fitness centers around campus often lack the equipment and space for students that genuinely want to pursue weightlifting. The OWU athletics staff has recently banned all non-student athletes from the fitness center. This would be understandable if you had not known that the athletics staff can already ask these students to leave when they are having practice, and non athlete students have not taken up equipment, as they just leave when they are asked to. With the ban of all non-student athletes from this strength and conditioning center, students who lift for a variety of reasons (mental health, personal wellbeing, or for general enjoyment) are now left with the option to drive to another nearby gym (which if you do not have a car is a 30minute to hour long walk), or give up their pursuit of weightlifting. We are not demanding for unrestricted access to the weight room all the time, but for the rules to go back to how they were before, in which students could enjoy the weight room until a team had a practice and the non athlete students were kindly asked to leave. It is only fair that students who pay tuition are granted what the school has to offer.