Petition calls for expansion of Ethos gym
Some commenters have said that the gym is not fit for purpose.
A petition is calling on Imperial College London to expand the gym at Ethos.
The change.org petition was started by Imperial student Alan Perfect and has over 800 signatures at time of writing.
The petition argues that Ethos’ Energia gym is “currently too small for the number of people who would like to use it”, and that this is “greatly discouraging, especially for first-time users”. The petition, which was started just over a week ago, asks Alice Gast, President of Imperial, to expand the gym into the waiting area on the ground floor.
The petition has attracted a number of supportive comments from students. One student, who completed their undergraduate degree at Imperial, said that they had stopped going because it was “far too small for the number of people it serves”. Another said that the gym was not fit for purpose Others complained about the lack of space, long wait times, and frequent broken equipment.
Perfect told Felix he was “really excited about the amazing response we are getting”. He added: “The more people I talk to, the more I find that most people think along the same lines. Something needs to be done about Ethos.”
He also cited a previous change.org petition, started by Felix, to build air conditioning in Central Library: “Some people have asked whether gym expansion is a realistic goal. And it is. Back in May 2016, Felix started a petition to get air conditioning in the library. Fast forward a year and a half, and a massive investment has been made to install air conditioning. Change is possible.”
Perfect told Felix that the immediate aim was 1,000 signatures: “From there, we can start pressuring College and getting the Union more involved in a proper campaign" Not all students agree, however. One student, writing in Felix this week, said that part of the issue was with students not using gym equipment properly, and called for a “treadmill walking ban”.
Energia is part of Imperial’s Ethos sports centre, located in Prince’s Gardens, on the South Kensington campus. Ethos also has a swimming pool, and a fitness studio. Ethos recently changed their out-of-term opening hours, reducing them by two hours each weekday, and four hours at weekends.
