By JONATHAN WEBB
Socceroos, a club for Webster University soccer aficionados, will no longer be able to hold its weekly matches for free.
John Ginsburg, University Center director, said an increase in the minimum wage to $7.25 has restricted the UC from extending its hours past 11 p.m. without charging a $10 per hour fee.
Ginsburg said Socceroos has agreed to the fee, and began meeting under that arrangement this week. Ginsburg added that he has requested for authorization to increase the fee to $15 for future weeks.
Socceroos member Tatenda Chibanga is satisfied with the arrangement, even if it comes at a cost.
“Right now, the situation is good,” Chibanga said. “I’m glad we’re able to be there the extra hour. The cost is an issue, but it was covered by (Student Government Association.)”
According to Chibanga, the group’s rapid increase in membership was a primary motivation to go forward with pursuing the extra time.
“The group has really grown since I’ve been here,” Chibanga said. “I can’t give you an exact number, but we have a lot more people this year.”
However, Covi Coronel, president of Socceroos, found previous supervision of the group’s games to be unnecessary.
“Someone just sat and read a magazine while we played soccer,” Coronel said.
But Ginsburg said previous issues of unreported damages by Socceroos, who typically met from 9:30 pm to midnight, necessitated the late-night supervision.
“There were banners knocked down, scoreboards damaged,” Ginsburg said. And we wouldn’t know until the next day, and we’d have to investigate it.”
Ginsburg also added that many of those issues have since been alleviated, and now he requires only one UC staffer to be around to close the building at the end of the night.
Ginsburg estimated that Socceroos would only need to pay about $150 dollars a semester to continue their clubs late-night meetings.
The proposed increase from $10 to $15 dollars per hour has been made to allow the UC to better handle to cost of staffing the building with the recent pay increases¸ and would not produce a profit for the UC.
According to Ginsburg, traffic in both Grant Gymnasium and the fitness center had dwindled to the point of having the UC unnecessarily staffed.
The change would simply place Grant Gymnasium on even footing with the rest of the University Center, such as the Sunnen Lounge, which must be rented out if in use after hours.
Ginsburg said even if funds were gained to allow for more available hours, it would be unlikely the fitness center would be open past 11 pm. But possibility remains for Grant Gymnasium to once again be open late, if the funds are accessible.
“I think this is already something that’s being worked on, if there’s a demand,” Ginsburg said. “We’ve had times when there are only one or two people in the UC at 11 o’clock. We want to provide the services we can, but we have to be able to afford it.”
