Students Express Discontent with Recreation Center Policy
By Caleb Moore
University of Connecticut Newswriting I
November 2019
STORRS — As a student familiar with working out at the old Recreation Center at the University of Connecticut, seventh-semester student Dennis Mema was shocked when he was told to change or leave twice in one day while attending the new center.
University of Connecticut’s Student Recreation Center / Photo by Caleb Moore
Mema, who’s from Milford, said “I was in the middle of an exercise when an employee came up to me and told me I had to get changed or leave because I was violating dress code, which I didn’t know about.” he said. “I had to bike back to my room, change, and come back. When I got back, a different employee at the front desk wouldn’t even let me in because they said I ‘hadn’t even changed’. So I went home and changed again. I went through 3 outfits before I arrived in one they approved of.” Mema, who frequented the old recreation center for the past three years, had never been dress coded before despite wearing similar clothes.
Students at UConn are troubled by the contentious dress code (and its enforcement) at the Recreation Center that opened this semester on campus.
The code, which restricts gym-goers from wearing clothing deemed inappropriate by Recreation Center staff, has sparked disagreement both online and in the center itself. A particular sticking point for some students is the section of policy labeled ‘Shirts’ which reads “Upper body clothing should fully cover the back, shoulders, and torso. Cropped T‑shirts and cropped tank tops are not permitted,” according to the UConn Recreation website.
Recreation officials maintain that the dress code is identical to the one that governed the old gym, but many students are of the opinion that the sudden enforcement is discriminatory to those just trying to work out, particularly women.
“For students who struggle with body issues, having the opportunity to be comfortable in your own skin is a huge benefit,” said Mema, 21. “UConn Recreation is not of the same mindset, and is failing to represent the students who are paying for this new center.”
Fitness Zones 1 and 3 / Photo by Caleb Moore
Third-semester political science and communications double major Damani R. Douglas, 19, thought the dress code wasn’t appropriately similar to codes at peer institutions like UMass Amherst.
“The policy is overly strict and constricting,” Douglas said. “It seems to me like the enforcement is more focused on the oversexualization of women’s bodies than health and safety.”
Douglas, who’s from West Hartford prefers to work out at the Jewish Community Center in Bloomfield. According to him, that particular JCC requires “athletic-wear,” which allows cropped tops.
Syracuse University, an institution of comparable size to UConn, has only one line regarding shirts on the recreation center website, which reads, “Workout clothes required. Shirts required.” Central Connecticut State University, which runs a smaller recreation center, requires “proper exercise attire. No flip flops, jeans, belts or inappropriate clothing can be worn.”
Sam Newton, a 21-year-old seventh-semester economics and statistics double major who’s also from West Hartford, said he hadn’t heard much about the difference between men and women being asked to change, but he had noticed the increased enforcement by staff.
“As a senior, I had been to the old gym many times,” Newton said. “And from my personal experiences as well as what I’ve heard from others, the dress code is getting enforced way more vigorously than years past. Not only are more people getting dress coded, but they’re getting reprimanded for more things.”
The enforcement of dress policy became the subject of internet indignation when a Facebook post from one woman, who shared how staff told her her shirt was too revealing, garnered more than 160 supportive comments and over 230 displeased reactions.
The subsequent outrage provoked a responsive post from UConn Spokesperson Stephanie Reitz on the Facebook group “Buy or Sell UConn Tickets,” a popular forum.
“The guidelines aren’t new, nor are they unique to UConn. It’s exactly the same policy that was in place in the old rec center, and has been in effect for many years — both here and at other collegiate and commercial rec centers — for health and hygiene purposes. The guidelines have absolutely NOTHING to do with judgments on appearance or modesty, nor are they gender-specific,” Reitz wrote. She also recommended students look up MRSA (a form of skin infection) and ended her post with “Trust me — you’d rather wear a T‑shirt than have THAT on your body.”
Seventh-semester elementary education major Sammi Mahoney, 21, said that she’d been dress coded more than seven times since the new center was opened, and felt like the old gym was more casual.
“At the old gym I never got dress coded, despite wearing more heavily-cropped things than I wear now. Never once did an employee come up to me and tell me I needed to change,” Mahoney said. “At the beginning of this year I noticed a lot more girls getting dress coded at the new gym, but I didn’t hear any accounts of guys getting dress coded until after there was a lot of complaints about how strict they were being with girls.”
Mahoney, who now carries an extra shirt to avoid being sent all the way back to her apartment to change, expressed her thoughts to the staff at the front desk of the new gym, but said some employees are more receptive than others.
“I talked to one of the managers, Olivia… and I told her about the overwhelming sense of anxiety that students feel now when they come to the gym, and it ended up being a good conversation,” Mahoney said. However, the discrepancy in enforcement causes its own issues, as Mahoney was dress coded recently for wearing a shirt that she had specifically gotten approved by staff in the past.
Despite being dress coded time and time again, Mahoney says she has no intention to stop wearing cropped tops.
“I refuse to stop wearing things I’m comfortable in because I’ve spent the past two years getting to a point where I’m happy with my body. And now I’m being told I can’t wear the things that make me feel confident,” she said.
