What To Do with Eddie

By Ryan Kosyla

If you check out the basement of Eddie Plank Gym, you won’t find much. Peering through the fading windows to the old underground work room, you’ll find it nearly deserted, save for a chair, a few books, and stagnant cooling fans. The aroma of dried sweat with a tint of moisture still seeps through.

Since the $25 million Center for Athletics, Recreation, and Fitness opened, the center space of the Eddie Plank Gym basement, where Gettysburg students used to exercise, has been left vacant. The question of what to do with the space has inevitably arisen.

Associate Dean of College Life Tom Mottola urges the college to focus on both a short and long term solution. To date, no decision regarding either has been made. Motolla points to a short term fix that would stay in place until plans for further development and funds for that plan is established.

“Academic use of the space would take priority over other uses, but we may explore some of these student life possibilities once decisions are made about potential academic use,” he told me in an e-mail. He also said certain programs and student groups on campus, such as Gettysburg TV and Experimental Education, are working in a relatively small office and may be relocated to the empty space.

Other options, such as a new social hall, have been discussed as well. A game room has been suggested by a number of students and administrators, with pool tables, ping-pong, foosball, and the like. “I think the Attic is far away and people don’t know really know where it is. It should be turned into some sort of student center,” said freshman and 2013 class President Sarah Fodero.

According to Nathan Bashaw, Director of Campus Recreation, the space will not be used for sports. “We don’t have any potential athletic uses in the basement,” he told me. There are some problems to consider, though. “The fact that there is a heavily used basketball court right above the Plank Basement space creates some limitations on the potential use,” writes Mottola.