Athletes and non-athlete students alike at Eureka College are confused and concerned about a new rule that was instilled regarding access to the campus weight room over winter break. A screenshot allegedly from the personal Instagram account of strength and conditioning coach, Michael Cacace, made its rounds on Yik Yak, an anonymous posting platform used by many Eureka College students.
The post read: “AS OF 1.13.25, THE STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING SPACE WILL ONLY BE FOR NCAA SANCTIONED TEAMS. IF YOU ARE NOT APART OF ATHLETICS YOU WILL NOT BE PERMITTED INTO THE STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING SPACE.”
Instead of students receiving notice of this newly instilled regulation via email, or an announcement in any other form, they were notified through a second-hand screenshot. Coach Cacace didn’t respond to a request for comment on this story.
A few students tried to state their concerns to Athletic Director Sara Shaw and by posting on the Eureka Happenings, however these students claim that their comments were either rejected or remained unaddressed.
Alayla Thornton, a junior student-athlete for the Eureka Softball team, believes this new rule is unfair.
“I think that everybody should be able to use the weight room, when that was a selling point when people came to the school. I think they implemented this rule due to people not taking care of the weight room… they would just leave it a mess causing the Reagan workers or Coach Mike to clean,” Thornton said.
Navada Roberts, a first-year student at Eureka, recently cancelled her private gym membership to work out in the campus weight room that was previously available for all Eureka students and faculty.
“Not everybody has cars and gas money to go to a gym. I just cancelled my gym membership for no reason. Even athletes used to go [workout] with their friends who aren’t athletes, and now they can’t,” Roberts said.
According to Director Shaw, the weight room (formerly known as the Strength Space) is transitioning into a new “athletic performance lab.” Shaw stated that this new rule was for the betterment of the student-athlete program.
This decision contradicts the original intention of the Wellness Center when it was created in June of 2017. Eureka College announced the conversion of the swimming pool into the Wellness Center, which was intended for use by the entire campus and community.
“The Wellness Center Project is another step toward more intentional alignment and integration of the College’s curricular and co-curricular goals,” said Eureka College President Jamel Wright in a press release at the time. “Health and wellness will be more emphasized in the future and this multi-use space will provide expanded options that our students and the community will enjoy.”
“The Wellness Center at the Reagan athletic complex will provide us a tremendous opportunity to support the health and well-being of our campus community and local community with new program offerings within our new and renovated facilities,” former Athletic Director Steve Thompson added in the release.
Shaw states that the new policy was enacted to bolster athletics on campus.
“In an effort to better serve the growing needs of both our athletics and academic programs, we are continuing to purchase new equipment that will enable our athletic performance professionals to better train and prepare our student-athletes for intercollegiate competition,” Shaw said. “The new equipment is similar to the specialized equipment that would be found in any other academic lab relative to its specialization. This equipment will be expensive and should only be used for specific purposes, with the oversight of trained individuals.”
Shaw stated that additional strength equipment was purchased for the Bonati space, which is planned for general fitness purposes. She cited that a Smith Machine and power racks with weights, and an entire set of dumbbells ranging from 5 to 100 lbs were put in the Bonati.
Despite the institution’s drive to ensure a better facility for athletes, some students are still concerned about the decision. A non-athlete upperclassman who commutes to campus, who chose to remain anonymous, used the Strength Space frequently last year, stating that she rarely overlapped with any sports teams, and even if she did, there was plenty of room or she would leave and go back later.
“I understood the student athletes took precedent since they have scheduled practices,” she said. “I have heard that there is a full rack that has been added to the smaller weight room. However, I personally prefer to use the larger weight room because the smaller one can get very hot and uncomfortable if there are a significant amount of people in there. One rack is also not enough if multiple people want to use it.”
The student admitted to continued frustration with the decision. “There is a lot I don’t know about this situation, however it’s obvious there needs to be better and clearer communication to students who will be affected by this decision.”
