Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) voted unanimously on Feb. 5 in favor of funding the Student Recreation Center (REC Center) $5,847 to improve its Public Announcement (P.A.).

The student REC Center has no way of alerting students if an emergency were to happen on campus, according to Sen. Fidel Moreno-Meza, a third-year criminology major. 

“The REC Center is extremely big. It has two gyms and multiple restrooms,” Moreno-Meza said. “It’s unreasonable to ask someone to go and check each room to make sure everyone has been evacuated during an emergency.”

Without a P.A. system, employees have to check each individual room during any emergency, Derek Walters, director of the center. 

According to Moreno-Meza, 48 percent of the Fresno State student population visit the center. The P.A. system will not only be used to alert students of emergencies, but also to alert students when the gym is closing and for entertainment purposes.

“[The REC Center] wants to be able to make announcements, inform students on emergencies and let students know the building is closing,” Walters said. 

The only sound system the center currently has is a boombox to play music, Walters said. The boombox cannot make announcements. 

“Just like any other gym, the REC’s P.A. system will also play music throughout their gyms,” Moreno-Meza said. 

He predicts the future P.A. system will be up and running sometime during the summer, but no date has been set yet. It will take approximately one month for the P.A. system to get running once they have all the building materials needed.