Is UI policy dashing hoop dreams?

A couple weeks ago, I wrote a column gushing about the University of Iowa's new $70 million, 20,000-square-foot Campus Recreation and Wellness Center, which opened this month.

I wrote that the centrally located facility, which is free to the UI's more than 30,000 students, was a clear sign that the school is serious about promoting health and could be a useful tool in the local fight against binge drinking.

This fall it will be just as easy for UI students to work out, play pickup basketball or splash around in the pool as it is to down a few drinks. Cheaper, too.

An attractive, accessible building devoted to wellness sends a clear message about the school's priorities, I wrote. I still think that's true.

But then local activist Doyle Landry brought to my attention another change that made me rethink the "accessible" part.

Starting today, non-UI students must purchase a pass to use the Wellness Center or any of the UI's recreational buildings. That means no more open gym for local youths who also have benefited from a little healthy running around instead of whatever else there is out there to get into.

Community residents can buy recreation center passes for a small fee, but -- as is always the case when we're talking about money -- "small" here is relative. The $45 monthly charge for a community pass is a lot easier for some to come by than others.

And Landry said the cost will be out of reach for a lot of the high school and other kids from Iowa City -- or who'd hop a bus from Cedar Rapids, the Quad Cities and beyond -- who used to haunt the Fieldhouse with dreams of impressing the big guys like Gray Team legend Darryl Moore.

An unintended consequence, but a big deal? Tell me what you think:

jennifer.hemmingsen@gazcomm.com.