Say Hi to Hiwa!
Did you forget about your New Year’s resolutions? Don’t worry, you still have time. According to the internet, the number one most common resolution every year relates to fitness, which links to gyms seeing spikes in membership sign ups and attendance in January. If like millions of other people, going to the gym was on your resolution list too, then look no further! The University’s new recreation centre can meet all of your fitness and health needs.
Hiwa Recreation Centre, located on Symonds Street, boasts a luxury experience for only $200 for the entire year, and free for students in halls of residence. With state of the art facilities on each of its eight floors, Hiwa is unlike any other gym, not just in other universities, but also in the whole of New Zealand.
For those into aquatic fitness, or pretending to be Cleo from H2O (no judgement), there is the choice of an eight lane swimming pool, or a diving tank, complete with a spa and sauna to soothe aching muscles afterward. There’s plenty of options for people who prefer to keep their feet on the ground too. In addition to the regular cardio and weights rooms found at most gyms (albeit new and cleaner at Hiwa, and with Netflix set on the cardio equipment), there are two sports halls. Sports Hall 1’s pièce de résistance is its glass floor with LED court lines that can be changed to match the sport being played. The second hall has hoops and lines set up for sports such as basketball, volleyball, netball, and even badminton.
There’s multiple studios for a range of activities, from martial arts, bikes, and group fitness classes, to activities such as dance and pilates for the stressful exam weeks. If you’re feeling like Indiana Jones, you could even try tackling the bouldering wall, or using the rooftop turf to recreate your favourite dramatic movie scenes when Auckland’s rainy season begins. If, by chance, none of the options from the extremely extensive list above piques your interest, there is a social area inside, where hammocks and recliner seats have been placed for rest and relaxation.
It all sounds so perfect, right? Right?
While nobody is complaining about the addition of a new, clean gym with a membership price that is impossible to find in this economy, certain events that have happened in the past few years seem to beg the question: should a new recreation centre really have been at the top of the University’s priorities?
The University reported that the budget set for the recreation center was $320 million, although the final figures won’t be clear until later in 2025. This budget, according to the University, was partially funded through the compulsory student fees paid at the beginning of each year, which according to the official website, is around $1,108.80 per student. These fees, accumulated since 2003, were a major source for the money that went towards building Hiwa. However, they couldn’t have been the only source.
The planning of this recreation centre began before many current students had even finished high school. The case for building a new recreation centre was first approved by the University Council seven years ago, in August of 2018. By August of the following year, the first designs were finished, and for the next three years, 2020 - 2023, demolition and construction was in motion. The doors of the newly finished centre were first opened to students on November 25th, 2024.
August of 2018 being the date of approval for the new recreation centre, coincidentally, (or not), was only a short while after the University's controversial decision in June of 2018 to shut down three specialist libraries which held books related to architecture, fine arts, and music and dance. While these books were moved to the general library, students and professors alike were outraged at the loss of their space. This unpopular move by the University was, unsurprisingly, to cut costs, and save money.
While saving money isn’t inherently a negative thing, the University has decided numerous times to take unfavorable actions in favour of pocketing an extra million, with the reassurance that it was needed. So where is the money being saved going? Evidently not towards the needs of staff or students.
In the second semester of 2024, it was leaked, keyword: leaked, that the University had proposed to cut courses with fewer enrollments, in what it labelled ‘course optimisation.’ To academics and students, it clearly wasn’t optimal at all. It was immediately identified that courses falling under Art or Science programmes would be disproportionately affected by these cuts, and many students were left feeling as though the University was attempting to stream them into more conventional degrees such as engineering or law. Petitions were signed, a rally was held, with students and teaching staff vocalizing their opposition to the proposal, and then all discussion about it seemed to conveniently come to a halt.
Most students are also now familiar with emails appearing in their inboxes once or twice yearly about strikes from those in the Tertiary Education Union (TEU). Members of the TEU have been stating for years that neither the pay, nor the wage growth that the University offers is enough to meet the rising cost of living, and inflation. In some instances, grades were withheld from students, and lectures were not held due to these strikes, and despite this, the University did not, and still has not met the demands of those who are striking.
In addition to teaching staff striking, in May of 2024, some students living in the halls went on a rental strike, after the University increased accommodation fees by 8%. Students reported being unable to pay for food, and having to skip classes to be able to afford the new rent that was put in place, facts that didn’t seem to not fall on sympathetic ears. The organization Students for Fair Rent reported in their press release last year that the University’s response had been quote ‘hostile and disappointing’, and that it had ‘explicitly refused to engage with the campaign.’
It would seem like common sense to most people that if there were this many controversies and problems surrounding one university, the first course of action to be taken would be to swiftly resolve them. The priorities, in reality, seem reversed. The new Hiwa recreation centre, while impressive, feels like a shiny, dangling toy in front of a distracted child, because ultimately after everything that’s happened, the response that the University of Auckland had to the question “what should we do with our money?” was… build a new gym.
Definitely an interesting decision.
