2008 Woodie Awards
Vote Absentee
Video related to this article is available below.Issue date: 2/27/08 Section: News
No boys allowed?
Harvard creates women-only gym time, but such a policy unlikely for Penn
Priyanka Dev
|
But if Penn follows in Harvard University's footsteps, students like Elass might be able to shed their layers.
Last month, Harvard implemented women-only hours at its Quadrangle Recreation Athletic Center in an effort to allow Muslim women to exercise in a more carefree setting. For six hours each week, only women are permitted to enter the facility - a rule that makes some males on campus unhappy.
"They're commandeering a community space," Harvard sophomore Adam Moss said in an article that appeared in The Harvard Crimson.
The new policy, which is an "experimental situation" according to Harvard associate athletics director Jeremy Gibson, will be evaluated in the coming months and the athletics continue the policy or make it permanent.
Though Elass acknowledged that all-women gym hours might be "inconvenient" for others, she said such a policy would make her feel far more comfortable.
"I would have more freedom to take off my scarf and wear short sleeves," she said. "It would just make life easier."
Elass said she never went to the gym last semester because she couldn't get used to the idea of working out in front of males. Her physical-education classes in Bahrain were always segregated by gender.
"I don't feel comfortable stretching, sweating or exercising in front of guys," she said.
Athletic Department spokesman Mike Mahoney said no one has approached Penn Athletics yet with such an idea, and added that women-only hours would be "hard to pull off" at Pottruck .
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 64
No Sharia at Penn
posted 2/27/08 @ 5:22 AM EST
I'm not about to compromise my right to use the gym to cater to somebody's anachronistic superstitions.
QAndy
posted 2/27/08 @ 7:20 AM EST
What the heck is "unfeasable" about letting the Moslems use the top floor fitness room for an hour a day?
kat
posted 2/27/08 @ 8:28 AM EST
I graduated a while ago (2003), but I could have sworn there was another gym on campus -- Hutch. Couldn't that be the one that they close off? Or, couldn't the naysayers just go to that gym during the off-hours?
There are certain floors at Pottruck that are really not used that much. (Continued…)
Richard
posted 2/27/08 @ 9:16 AM EST
This is not a Muslim country! We will go by Muslim rules in a Muslim country, you go by ours here. Any policy as this will just cause inconvenience to almost everyone and totally not needed. (Continued…)
Scott
posted 2/27/08 @ 9:38 AM EST
Slowly but surely the Muslims are killing our country. What ever happened to our Constitution and freedoms!
JJ
posted 2/27/08 @ 9:46 AM EST
I took the poll before actually reading the article. Now, I actually think that this would be worthwhile to test out at Penn and could be encouraging for all women to attend the gym more often. (Continued…)
Volker
posted 2/27/08 @ 9:52 AM EST
There is already single-gender swim at the Sherr pool (men: Sun 10-11, women: Sun 11-12). It would be easy to assign some single-gender hours to the 4th floor exercise room, and it would not inconvenience anyone. (Continued…)
design guy
posted 2/27/08 @ 10:17 AM EST
Closing all of Pottruck to men for any period of time? Unacceptable. Unless, of course, they're willing to reduce the cost (us grad students have to pay for that place if we want to use it) proportionally for men. (Continued…)
like boys
posted 2/27/08 @ 11:30 AM EST
i actually didn't know about the single sex hours at the pool and dragged a male friend with me to swim early one weekend only for him to be escorted out of the pool area. (Continued…)
Just for equality's sake
posted 2/27/08 @ 11:33 AM EST
Well, I propose that my religion begins causing me problems in the engineering buildings during the day. Not being able to lounge around in my underwear drinking beer is very upsetting to my religion. (Continued…)
Post a Comment