The new PHIT program has taken the spotlight at Bakersfield College.
According to Alan Crane, legislative liaison of the SGA at Bakersfield College, the new PHIT program has infringed on the right of the student body violating section 51023.7 of Title 5.
It states, “the Board of Trustees shall establish procedures to ensure faculty, staff, and students; the opportunity to express their opinions and to ensure that these opinions shall be given every reasonable consideration. That the college shall be governed by three governance systems, the first one stating that collegial governance system in which the college shall rely primarily upon the advice and judgment of the Academic Senate and its representatives.”
“That health center fee is being charged to provide for a mental health physician on campus or to beef up our health center and to provide for the building of a health center on the Delano Campus,” said Crane. “That money was not to be used to buy weights and not to renovate those facilities.”
Though according to Mildred Lovato, vice president of student services, and Bill Andrews, president of Bakersfield College, the program is useful and will hopefully reduce health fees for student later on in life by practicing preventative health.
“I met with the dean of students and addressed it with an internal auditor to make sure that we were using funds appropriately,” said Lovato.
Andrews agrees, “The center was already run through with an auditor John James, there is completely nothing inappropriate about this program,” said Andrews. “It’s there to hopefully help reduce student health fees later in life through preventative health.”
It’s a requirement that all students attending Bakersfield College pay the student health fee upon enrollment, though, according to Lovato, most students weren’t taking advantage of what it had to offer. Lovato says she has ‘single handedly’ devised a more useful way of spending the money students pay and incorporated the new PHIT program, it stands for, preventative healthcare information and training.?
“Last spring there was lots of media attention directed towards medical care. Since there was an increase in the student health fee, I met with the deans in student services,” said Lovato. “I devised a way to use the student health fee to address preventative health. The more you engage in preventative health the less money you will spend later in life.”?
All students have to do is make sure that they pay the required $14 student health fee and do a health screening and they will have access to both the weight room and the fitness center.
The PHIT center will actually be open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday, versus what was originally planed and posted on press releases.?
“We’ve completely reorganized the hours to allow students to use the facilities. It will operate as a true fitness center we made it as convenient as possible for the students.”?
According to Lovato currently there are between 50 to 100 students active in the program already.?
With the help of a grant from Sunkist, BC was able to hire a personal trainer to help students to better take advantage of the facilities.?
“We had concerns about people not taking advantage of health, so we expanded the use of the funds in the best way possible,” said Lovato.?
Crane still feels as though the funds are being used incorrectly and that there should have at least been a mental health physician on campus before a PHIT program.
“There’s a personal agenda taking precedence over the good of the student body here at BC,” said Crane.
But not only is the program benefiting student health, but for those students 21 and under that need two units of physical education, they can pay 20 dollars and enroll in a parellel PHIT course to receive their physical education credit.?
If you’re interested in what the PHIT program has to offer there will be an open house tomorrow at 10 am so that students can see for themselves the upgrades and state-of-the-art equipment this center has provided.?