I've lived on the west side of campus for three years now, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that this vote needs to pass. Beyer and State Gym are completely inadequate facilities for students. Despite its size, Beyer actually has very few facilities that students can just walk in and use recreationally- the pool and the racketball courts are it. Almost every activity that takes place in the building is either Athletics or Intramural activities. State Gym is a great building with lots of history, but speaking in terms of usability and efficiency, it's a total dump. The basketball courts are almost always packed in the evenings, there are no facilities at all for men except for a tiny 2-person bathroom tucked down in the northwest sub-basement stairwell, and all of the stuff underneath the gym floor (and there's a lot- boxing, Outdoor Rec, offices, pool) has to deal with what sounds like Armageddon approaching. For those of you who have been gone at least a few years, the demand for modern workout facilities is so great on the west side that the Union Drive area opened up The Plex- two smallish rooms in the UDCC (cardio) and Friley (weights) that people can purchase annual passes to. The Plex gets rather heavy use, especially the weight room. I have personally purchased a set of adjustable dumbbells just so that I can get some kind of a workout in my room without having to trek to the opposite corner of campus. On top of all that, I did work out at Lied nearly every day this summer. I quickly learned that I had to either be finished by about 7:30am, or not come until 10pm. Anything else, and it was so obscenely hot in the 3rd-floor weight loft that it was a health hazard. We need these upgrades.
Unless I came back to ISU for my master's, I won't even get to use these facilities, but I'm definitely going to vote for them. With them, we will continue to have some of the best combinations of facilities and services in the nation. Without them, we will be outclassed within 18 months by our peer institutions, who are also upgrading recreational facilities. We owe it to future students to fund this necessary part of campus life.