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Division of Student Affairs

Addressing Needs for Students and Campus

CSUSM is one of the few campuses CSU without a comprehensive Wellness and Recreation Facility.  It is important for CSUSM to remain competitive recruiting future students and retaining current students through state of the art facilities, programs and services.  Several important needs for this building are outlined below.

  1. Nationally, successful recruitment and retention can be tied to recreational facilities and programs that a campus offers. About 62% of students factor recreational facilities into their decision to enroll and 67% of students report that recreational facilities impact their decision to remain at their chosen campus (NIRSA, 2019).
  2. A facility of this nature directly supports both the CSU Graduation Initiative 2025 and Basic Needs Initiative. This initiative also connects to the CSUSM Strategic Plan by removing barriers and creating resources for student success. This facility combining basic needs, wellness and recreation/fitness would be a unique partnership in the CSU.
  3. Data from the 2019 CSUSM Feasibility Study indicated that 72% of CSUSM students who engaged through focus groups (60 participants) and surveys (594 returned) placed a high priority on building this new facility.
  4. Across the 23 CSU campuses, CSUSM does not provide this critical student community and holistic wellness facility for our growing student population and campus community. CSUDH and CSUMB currently have facility projects under development; Humboldt State has a shared facility with Recreation/Kinesiology/Athletics, and CSULA has a fitness center located in their Student Union.
  5. CSUSM has steadily grown both its campus population and our Athletics programs, with transition to NCAA Division II. With oversight of the Clarke Field House (CFH), Athletics could benefit from the CFH becoming exclusive for student-athletes, therefore the general student population needs a new facility that fully supports three important pillars of basic needs, wellness and recreation.
  6. CSUSM currently offers 35,400 GSF of shared recreational space; based on a current enrollment of 17,000 students, CSUSM is well below the national educational standard of 167,722 GSF of dedicated recreation and wellness space (NIRSA, 2007).