Reflect on your first year at CSUSM. Perhaps you were a commuter, like me, eager to find ways to engage with campus life and connect with new friends. Or maybe you lived on campus, in the QUAD or UVA, and found yourself consistently searching for activities with friends or places to relax outside your dorm. 

Now, envision a brand-new recreation and wellness facility designed specifically for your well-being—supporting both your physical and mental health. Wouldn’t that have significantly enhanced your experience at CSUSM? Take a moment to think about the future, possibly a couple of years from now. Imagine enhancing your little sibling’s experience, who could be deciding to embark on their journey at CSUSM in the next few years, or even possibly enhance your own child’s college experience, years from now, who may choose to attend your alma mater. Well, for over eight years, students at CSU San Marcos have been advocating for this very vision and legacy: the establishment of adequate wellness and recreation spaces on campus. Currently, CSUSM stands out as one of the few CSU campuses without a dedicated facility for these essential needs. 

As a CSUSM student myself, hearing that nearly every other CSU campus has a wellness and recreation facility makes me feel both hopeful and frustrated. This fact highlights that there is a key missing piece to the CSUSM campus that could significantly enhance the student experience. Such a facility has the potential to provide essential resources for fitness, mental health, and community that many other campuses already benefit from – San Diego State, Dominguez Hills, and Long Beach, to name a few. Knowing that almost every other CSU has a facility for their students promotes the idea that investing in our wellness and recreation spaces is not just about keeping up with other universities, but about genuinely supporting student success and well-being here at CSUSM. I hope that our students can see the value that a wellness and recreation facility can create by bringing a more inclusive and healthier environment to CSUSM. 

Campus Recreation’s proposal for a Wellness and Recreation Facility at CSUSM should have been presented to students years ago. The original $35 REC fee was approved back in 1998—26 years ago. Given the changing times and rising living costs, it’s clear that a $35 fee can no longer adequately support the diverse programming Campus Recreation offers to students today, and without this increase to support a new facility and increased programming, CSUSM students risk the end of programmatic offerings like Outdoor Adventures, Fitness and Wellness, and Intramurals, due to insufficient funding and current program deficits. 

The proposed $210 fee increase for such a significant project is a remarkable effort to manage student funds responsibly. Without this facility, students could face fees exceeding $1,000 per semester if a new facility were built directly on campus. The fact that Campus Recreation has managed to negotiate the cost down to $245 per semester for a 49,200-square-foot leased facility space is an impressive achievement that often goes unnoticed until the financial details are fully understood. Student ambassadors involved in this project have committed time to present financial models to the CSUSM Student Fee Advisory Committee. After thorough analysis, this proposed fee increase has been identified as the most cost-effective means of bringing such a facility to campus. 

One notable aspect of this project is that the increased fee will be delayed until the anticipated opening of the facility in the 2026-2027 academic year. This may remind students of the CSUSM University Student Union (USU) referendum, where students recognized the value of voting yes and were willing to pay in advance of the building’s completion. If students recognized the value of a University Student Union facility ten years ago and were willing to pay for something they wouldn’t see or use immediately, why shouldn’t we take this opportunity to vote yes for future generations? This is our chance to bring a much-needed facility to campus—one that some of us might even be able to experience before we graduate. 

When we compare this proposed fee increase to those at other CSU campuses, it becomes clear that investing in this facility through a leased space is a smart choice for the CSUSM community. 

This facility is much more than just a gym; it represents an enhancement to the student experience, not a financial gain for Campus Recreation, Housing, Athletics, or CSUSM as an institution. It’s important to clarify that the proposed Wellness and Recreation Facility is not currently in progress. Instead, a new housing structure is underway, which will add 530 additional student housing beds. 

The proposal from Campus Recreation, Housing, and Athletics aims to lease the first and second levels of this housing structure, converting those floors into dedicated recreation and wellness spaces. This initiative could foster a partnership with Kinesiology, one of CSUSM’s largest colleges in CEHHS, enabling the use of multi-purpose areas within the facility to provide students with experiential learning courses and labs. 

This facility would be an addition to the existing Clarke Field House, currently the only recreation space on campus, which offers only 35,000 square feet of space. If this referendum does not pass, the first and second levels of the housing structure will be offered to North City, potentially turning them into office or leasing spaces, similar to the first level of the Extended Learning Building. What CSUSM students have is an opportunity to secure valuable resources for student wellness—let’s not let it slip away. 

From Monday, October 21st at 7:00 am, through Wednesday, October 23rd at 5:00 pm, students will be offered the opportunity to share their voice on the Vote For U fee referendum. This is an opportunity for students to make their “now or never” vote towards leaving their legacy for generations to enjoy on the CSUSM campus. 

This is an Op-Ed submitted by Alyssa Loschiavo, a student ambassador sharing her testimony on the proposed Wellness and Recreation Facility.