Students will be able to use two new StairMasters in the University Recreation Center starting April 1. 

House members passed a bill to buy the new machines during Tuesday night’s Student Government Association meeting. 

Fifty-four percent of representatives voted in favor of the bill, while 38 percent were opposed and 12 percent abstained from voting. 

Last week, SGA adopted a resolution to support the possibility of purchasing the additional StairMasters. The bill and resolution were presented by Neeley School of Business representative Garrett Adair and administrative assistant Tierney Johnson. 

Johnson, a first-year business major, said she created an online survey to gauge student response to the possible purchase of the new StairMasters. About 78 percent of students who took the survey said that they currently use the two StairMasters in the Rec. 

Most students said they used the equipment for about 20-25 minutes, and about 80 percent said they wait to use the machines, according to the survey.Also, 82 percent said they felt that the Rec Center would benefit from additional StairMasters. 

“A lot of the things we do here is to show the students we care, and we want to help them, and we want to represent them,” Adair, a sophomore business major, said. 

College of Communication representative Nicolette Stanley said she talked to students who were excited about the prospect of new StairMasters. 

“Just the fact that people are actually like, ‘Oh, I hear that SGA is working to do this,’ I think that that’s a good sign that we should probably follow through,” Stanley said. “Because obviously this is something that’s important to a lot of people.” 

However, some representatives said they thought a different method of support would be more helpful. 

“I see this as a case where advocating might actually be more effective,” Class of 2016 representative Ethan Murray said. “Because if we advocate instead of fund, we could see [the StairMasters] in the next fiscal year. [The Rec Center] could re-allocate the funds towards these, so if we advocate for them that would alleviate a lot of the stress.”

Adair said the Rec Center has a budget of money that goes towards purchasing new equipment each year. He also said that the need for more StairMasters arose after the budget for this year had already been set. With $3,000 remaining, this left an insufficient amount to purchase the new machines. 

The total cost of the StairMasters is $12,838. SGA would contribute $10,000 to the purchase, and the remaining balance would be funded by the Rec Center. 

Johnson said the new StairMasters will be the StepMill 5 model, which features rust-free construction, water bottle holders, a 10-inch touchscreen console and storage area for accessories. 

In addition, Adair said the new machines will be located next to the current StairMasters in the cardio area of the Rec Center. The stretching machines currently in that place will be moved to the weight room. 

Also during the meeting…
• A bill to fund the replacement of general chemistry laboratory balances was passed with 60 percent in favor. About $4,800 will be given to the chemistry department to purchase four new balances.

• A bill to fund the Testing Materials Project was passed unanimously. This will allocate $4,000 to re-fill the deficient supply of Scantrons and blue books in the Mary Couts Burnett Library and fulfill orders by departments and professors.

• Representatives defeated a bill to fund a campus-wide movie event series with 62 percent of members voting against the bill.