K College Students Want More in Athletics

K College Students Want More in Athletics
A recent survey analyzed a Kalamazoo College proposal to renovate the athletic fields, fitness center, and Natatorium. Plans for the fields are already in place at an estimated $15 million, and the fitness center is suggested with a $20 million price tag. With so much money at stake for a historically academically-focused institution, we wanted to measure the student support for this project. We proceeded to survey fifty randomly selected K College students, collected through a door to door strategy at all six residence halls and the library. On a scale of 1 to 10, with ten being the most supportive, the average level of support for the renovations was a 7.02, showing a strong level of approval for the administration’s project. This came from a sample body of just 16 student athletes and 34 non-student athletes. Our hypothesis that student athletes would be more supportive that non-student athletes was accurate with a confidence level of 95%. We also decided to question our survey participants about the number of times that they have used the fitness center in the past week, in order to evaluate the impact of these renovations on the college community as a whole. However, we soon discovered this was a limitation of our survey, since 96 percent of our participants said that they used the fitness center at least once per week. We believe that since society places an expectation on weekly exercise, many students who didn’t meet that expectation felt pressured to stretch the truth. This result, when compared to Western Michigan’s 44%, seems to point to an obvious flaw in this survey. However, what the survey does show is a strong level of support for this renovation project, which will hopefully aid the school’s efforts to own top-notch athletic facilities and attract more recruits.