While nudity may seem commonplace in a locker room, many Recreation Center regulars said they have seen all the skin they can handle.
Excessive nudity in the Recreation Center’s men’s and women’s locker rooms is driving some students away from using the locker rooms altogether.
Chad Greene and Becky Swanson are University cheerleaders who work out at the Recreation Center on a regular basis.
After their regular workouts, Greene, a senior majoring in English, heads down to the locker room and showers. Swanson, a junior in education, avoids the locker room and waits until she gets home to clean up.
She dodges the locker room because she is disgusted by the number of people who walk around the locker room naked. Greene agrees there is an excess of naked people in the locker room who could easily cover themselves up.
“There is a time and a place for nudity, like in the showers,” Greene said. But it is the nudity outside of the showers that has some Rec Center users disgusted.
Greene and Swanson are not alone in questioning the locker room etiquette of some of the members.
“I wish they’d wear a towel. Sometimes they come up and start talking to you and you look up and there it is,” said Matt Fossey, a pre-business sophomore.
Leticia Gonzales, a sophomore in journalism, usually doesn’t bother covering up when she goes to take a shower. She said at first she was sensitive about what others thought, but now feels comfortable and doesn’t worry about what they see.
“I guess it is kind of weird that you just walk around in an open space naked, but it really doesn’t bother me,” Gonzales said.
Audra Biesterfeld is a College of Liberal Arts freshman and works in the rec center equipment room. She uses the locker room after workouts and is in there for various duties of her job. She said it almost seems like a contest between some women who walk to and from the showers naked or barely covered.
She also said, according to her knowledge, the Recreation Center does not have any kind of policy concerning the issue of nudity.
“(A policy) would be way too hard to enforce. People should just take others into consideration,” Biesterfeld said.
Barry Saeger is a senior speech-communication major who frequents the Rec Center for racquetball class and the occasional workout. He uses the locker room to change, but does not have a locker and does not shower while there.
Saeger said it is a long way from the farthest locker to the showers. However, the problem could be solved by putting a common area near the locker room door for those who don’t shower or are offended by excessive nudity.
“My biggest problem is with people who feel they have to comb their hair in front of the mirror before they put on a single article of clothing,” Saeger said.
Many regulars at the Rec Center said part of the problem is that the towels provided are too small, while others simply commented that they don’t see any problem with people walking naked through the locker rooms.