MD-PhD students belonging to the Tri-institutional Program (Rockefeller, Cornell and Sloan Kettering); but not researching in Rockefeller labs, have been denied access to Rockefeller University’s Founder’s Hall gym since autumn 2003. The issue of gym access for these students was discussed at a recent meeting between the Student Representative Committee and the President. A request has been made for the affected individuals to have their gym access returned, and a decision is expected shortly.
The MD-PhD students who had their access to the gym suddenly revoked were not consulted before or officially informed of the change. This meant that the first inkling many students had that a problem had arisen, was when they were stranded outside the gym because their swipe card no longer functioned. This left some MD-PhDs feeling “embarrassed and like a second class citizen.” The security guards rigorously enforced the ban and non RU MD-PhDs—who entered the gym when someone exited, thinking that the problem was due to an ID card glitch—were asked to leave by security. One student evicted from the gym, who has high regard for the “kind and professional” manner of RU security staff, lamented the fact that the University abdicated responsibility for informing students and left the security guards to deal with the matter instead. Subsequent to the decision being enacted, it was difficult for the MD-PhD student representative to find the person reponsible for the decision who could provide relevant information to convey to students.

In recent times, all MD-PhD students entering the Tri-insitutional program had been given an RU ID card which enabled access the Founder’s Hall gym, considered to be far superior to the one available to them at Cornell. In the fourth year of the MD-PhD program, all students—regardless of whether their laboratory is located in Rockefeller, Cornell or Sloan Kettering—move from student housing at Cornell to student housing at Rockefeller, where they remain until completion of their MD-PhD. Loss of gym access is a particular annoyance to affected MD-PhD students living in GSR or Sophie Fricke (the two dormitories containing the majority of RU student housing), since the online student housing guide lists the Founder’s Hall exercise facility as an amenity of these campus housing locations.

Why was gym access suddenly denied? Liability insurance appears to have been the initial trigger for the change in gym access. When a policy was being drawn up, which gave eligibility of access to RU employees, the definition of employees did not extend to include the MD-PhD students not working in a RU lab. If there was a financial constraint at the heart of this matter, the relevant figures have not been made public yet. Of course, providing benefits to students in the Tri-institutional Program may cause financial burdens which need to be shared fairly between the institutions, so problems may arise not from a lack of institutional goodwill, but instead be driven by financial undercurrents.

However, if money is not the root of this problem, the gym access issue may instead represent a larger question of how the Tri-institutions decide who will take on the responsibility for providing resources and their willingness to share these resources. Thus, this relatively minor dispute, represents a broader dilemma of providing parity of benefits to MD-PhD students working at different institutions of the Tri-institutional Program. For example, MD-PhD students working in RU labs can avail of Cornell facilities such as a free interlibrary loan service, gym or basketball court access. Therefore, some complain that Rockefeller depriving non RU MD-PhD students of gym use is not in keeping with a spirit of reciprocity of access.

The administration was sent a petition concerning this issue, signed by three quarters of the MD-PhD students, which stated: “We write to you because The Rockefeller University has revoked gym access for MD-PhD students not currently enrolled in Rockefeller thesis labs. We are surprised and dismayed by this change in policy, as we entered the Program with the implicit assurance that, as students in the Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program, we have access to the resources of the three participating Institutions. In previous years, in fact, any MD-PhD student has had the option to exercise and to socialize with colleagues in this gym. It is therefore a great disappointment to us that Rockefeller has now chosen to exclude some of the students in our program. While this issue might seem trivial at first glance, the policy has created a sense of imbalance within a program that has grown in national stature because of its recognized focus on fostering not only academic excellence but also fairness and inclusion. As evidenced by the signatures below, both Rockefeller and non-Rockefeller students are united in their wish to reinstate our Tri-Institutional privileges by providing all MD-PhD students to access to the Rockefeller gym. Thank you for your understanding.”

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