Something's rotten at the Mustang Daily

Now I’m not a math major and I don’t expect the writers at the Mustang Daily to be either, but flagrant mistakes in an informative article regarding an important referendum is just ridiculous and unprofessional. I’m referring to the editorial from Feb. 26 entitled “Rec Center: Something’s rotten at Cal Poly.”

Let’s start simple. The article says that students 10 years from now “will be paying almost $1300 more than what we’re paying now…” However, if you take the $65 increase and multiply it by 12 quarters you get $780 and not $1300. If you ask me, most students see $520 as kind of a big discrepancy.

However, an even more blatant mistake would be the article’s calculation of total fees collected by ASI. A $65 per quarter increase multiplied by 12 quarters and again by 20,000 students comes out to $15.6 million. Interestingly, the article calculates this amount at $117 million – a little more than a slight miscalculation.

Furthermore, referring to Cal Poly as a resort because of the addition of a leisure pool seems a little unfair. Students shouldn’t be forced to swim laps; they should have the ability to swim or relax in the water on a hot day without having to fight through the crowds that swim laps on a regular basis.

The multi-activity center will provide more than just padded walls, as the article suggests – it will allow for an increase in intramural sports participation, which currently is extremely impacted. ASI concerts are also a major attraction for all students, even those who don’t use the Rec Center, further expanding the number of students directly affected by the expansion of the facility.

The article also fails to even mention the addition of two synthetic fields which will allow intramural sports to be played during and after rain as well as the addition of air conditioning – one of the largest complaints regarding the Rec Center.

Finally, the fact that ASI is pushing to create a LEED-certified building and focus on sustainable, energy saving design is barely mentioned.

The fact that ASI listened to students and their desire for a larger facility with more features all to be done in a sustainable manner shows that the Rec Center increase will not be a facility for the students that “may mean nothing to them.”

The referendum is more than commendable because it was derived from student input and demand and shows ASI’s commitment to providing every student the ultimate college experience.

Carl Payne is an architecture senior and a guest columnist for the Mustang Daily.