If you want to play a game of pool and you are not a student at the university, don't go looking for an open table at the new Baker University Center. Although for a few months it was open to university students and city residents alike, Baker's billiards, ping-pong and foosball tables are now closed to the general public. Visitors like friends and family are permitted to play as long as they are with a student presenting an OU ID.
The situation has upset some alumni and area residents, but permitting anyone to use Baker's pool tables could cause students to pay the price twice for the new building when repairs to the tables are needed. Pool tables full of non-students also would prevent students, who pay an extra $180 a school year to use the building, from playing.
Non-students who are not paying $180 a year have plenty of other options. Ping Center, open to the public for a $7.50 entry fee, has three tables open until midnight every night of the week. The Athens Community Center on East State Street also has one table that costs 75 cents a game, and non-members are welcome.
Alumni might feel jilted by the university's decision to revoke the right to the pool tables at Baker, but students have pre-paid to play there. If residents want to use the tables, maybe they ought to help out with students' bills.Editorials represent the majority opinion of the executive editors. Send your submissions to posteditorial@ohiou.edu.
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Current, paying students deserve first dibs on Baker University Center recreation room
