Summer brings shorter business hours

During the school year, it is not uncommon to see crowds of students pouring out of the John Wooden Center when it closes at 12:45 a.m.

But during the summer, the gym’s night owls may be out of luck.

The Wooden Center, along with some other campus facilities such as Ackerman Union, shortens its hours during the summer months, largely in response to decreased business.

Instead of staying open until almost 1 a.m. on weekdays, the Wooden Center closes its doors at 10:45 p.m. And on weekends, gym-goers have until 7:45 p.m. to get in their workouts.

Gabe Rose, president of the Undergraduate Students Association Council, is on campus over the summer doing work for USAC, and said he has noticed the change in hours.

“The main thing is having to work out a little earlier,” he said, adding that during the school year he typically goes to the Wooden Center around 11 p.m. “It’s definitely a slight inconvenience, but I understand that for cost reasons (facilities need to close earlier).”

The Wooden Center still opens at 5:30 a.m. on weekdays, but Rose said overall it seems fewer students frequent the gym, and campus facilities in general, during the summer than during the school year.

“The gym is less crowded. I’d say everything on campus is quieter over the summer,” he said, attributing the change at least partially to the fact that fewer classes are offered during summer session.

Both the number and the scheduling of summer session classes determines hours for campus facilities, said Roy Champawat, student union director for Associated Students UCLA.

Champawat oversees facilities in Ackerman Union, such as the store and study and meeting rooms, and said traffic changes significantly during the summer.

“It’s a lot slower in summer,” he said. “Students make a lot more use of conference and study rooms during the school year.”

He added that the change is not just in the overall number of students using Ackerman’s resources, but is also in traffic flow.

During the school year, students are much more likely to make use of Ackerman’s facilities late at night, Champawat said.

“Summer school doesn’t usually keep kids on campus late at night,” he said. “And most of the summer conferences (held on campus) don’t use facilities late at night.”

In response to the change in business, Ackerman Union closes at 9 p.m. over the summer, as opposed to 11 p.m. during the school year, Champawat said.

And while changes in traffic were the main factor in the decision to alter Ackerman’s hours over the summer, Champawat said on-campus restaurants do experience significant changes in revenue as a result of decreased summer business.

Colin Iberti, USAC Campus Events commissioner who is also staying at UCLA over the summer, said he has noticed changes in business and traffic flow at on-campus restaurants, such as Panda Express, Rubio’s and the Cooperage.

“The lunch lines are ridiculous … I was so surprised by how busy it is at lunch and how dead it gets later in the day,” he said, adding that he believes restaurants are more crowded at lunchtime during the summer than they are during the school year.

Iberti said he sometimes finds campus facilities’ summer hours a bit inconvenient, but believes that the overall effect is not especially significant.

“We’re there late a lot. … It’s slightly disappointing to see everything close,” he said. “For us, I actually do think it’s inconvenient because we’re here all the time, but maybe for the average summer school student, it fits their schedule.”

Iberti said other than eating at home when he knows on-campus restaurants will be closed, the shortened summer hours have not prompted him to change his own schedule.

He added that the hours change makes sense to him, given that the campus in general quiets down over the summer.

“During the school year, there’s definitely a lot more people around,” he said.

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