The University of Michigan’s $1.6 million renovations to its three fitness facilities last November are facing technical difficulties as the newly installed TV screens have yet to play any programming, according to The Michigan Daily.
The TV monitors are connected through computer software that should provide programming from the Internet, but the university’s department of recreational sports cannot get the programming software to work, which means the TVs can show only university-sponsored advertisements for now.
The university had conducted studies to discover which upgrades would most appeal to students, including the installation of TV screens last November in the exercise rooms at the Central Campus Recreational Building, the Intramural Sports Building and the North Campus Recreational Building.
Vivian Yu, president of Building a Better Michigan, a student group that advocates for improvement of recreational facilities on campus, told the Daily that department buildings are important to the student experience and adds that there is a need for improvement of its facilities and technology.
Medical school student Yashar Niknafs told the newspaper that even if the TVs were operational, they would not be worthwhile to the students exercising at the gyms. Rather than working TVs, Niknafs said he would prefer an increase in upgraded equipment, which the university has been working to implement over the past year through replacing outdated machines.