By By Rob Tokanel, News Staff

Despite recent complaints from students, it is unlikely the university will provide more access to intramural sports any time soon, according to university officials.
Athletics and Recreation Director Peter Roby said Northeastern is doing everything it can to make recreational opportunities available for students, but facilities are too limited to meet increasing demand.
‘We certainly have waiting lists of students that are interested in participating, and we’re doing our best, but there’s only so much we can do based on the facilities that we have,’ he said.
Roby said so many groups need to use each facility on campus that there is no way to make the necessary time for everyone. Cabot Center alone hosts baseball, track and field, soccer and football training, in addition to club sports.
Roby said the only likely solution to the lack of time would be to create more space for athletic activities on campus.
‘The university recognizes that there’s still some need for us to create more space, and it’s just a matter of trying to weigh all the priorities,’ he said.
Jennifer Hardy, Budget Review Committee chair and Student Government Association vice president for financial affairs said the $46 per semester recreation fee raises about $1.4 million, which is distributed toward intramural costs, free admission for students to Northeastern athletic events, equipment, vans, club sports teams, operation of the Marino Center and medical treatment for athletes.
Hardy said the budget for the recreational fee was reevaluated during the summer to increase its many needs, including club sports. She would not say whether the Financial Affairs Committee had discussed increasing funding for intramurals.
Some students said they had seen teams on the ice at Matthews Arena that were not affiliated with Northeastern, and some of them accused the school of making intramural time less available in order to collect cash from other groups who wanted access to the ice
Roby said that other than Wentworth, who Northeastern has an agreement with providing ice time in exchange for the use of Sweeney Field for field hockey, the only other groups who get regular ice time are the Boston High School hockey teams, which was part of an agreement formed in 1979 when Northeastern acquired Matthews Arena.
‘There is a small percentage of the overall time that we make available to the general community, and part of that is as much to try to make sure we’re good partners that meet the needs of the community,’ he said.
Roby said revenue from outside groups using the ice has decreased by more than 50 percent since 2004, as the university has continuously cut back in order to make room for student demand. Intramural sports get 35 percent of the total ice time at Matthews, which is considerably more than any other group, he said.
Gabriel Wolf is a sophomore economics major who recently started a petition for more time at the rink that, as of press time, had 135 signatures. He said he is not satisfied with the measures taken by the university to this point.
‘Less money [for the school] does not correlate to time, so it’s not really relevant to me,’ Wolf said. ‘What is relevant is that there are other people who want the ice.’
Wolf said he knows of many students that would be willing to pay a small fee to use the ice on a case-by-case basis when it is available.
‘Being a full time student paying full tuition, if part of my tuition is paying for something that I’m not receiving, then that’s not acceptable,’ Wolf said.