Editor, Daily Nexus,

Our athletic facilities here at UCSB are embarrassing. At the baseball field, aside from the standard concomitant problems with maintenance and locker room space, we are faced with the problem of having no restrooms anywhere near the facility. During the regular season we are provided with four “porta-potties,” all without sinks of course, but during the first Quarter of the school year there is not a single restroom provided for the team or the fans.

The need for facility enhancement is clear. If one were to explore the planters surrounding the facility, it is more than likely that they would stumble across at least one person relieving themselves in the bushes. This situation is unacceptable. It is humiliating to us when, after searching for a while, the visiting teams have to ask us where the bathrooms are. During the preseason, we have to tell them that they must run down the road to get to the nearest facility, but during the regular season we must bear the shame of directing them to the line of flimsy plastic stalls that have been crammed into the corner behind our dugout. Action must be taken to eliminate these poor situations.

The student-initiated referendum for the enhancement of our athletic facilities is exactly what we need. The improvement that would be made under this initiative would encompass a wide variety of improvements to many of the sports facilities. For those of us on the baseball team, the referendum will provide a new bathroom facility, a better drainage system for the field, new turf, and an expanded locker room. I urge that everyone go out and make an effort to get this referendum passed. For a university of this size and prestige, our athletic facilities are substandard. This referendum will help to establish world class facilities for our world class athletic program. Please take the initiative to help establish a campus we can all be proud of.

GABRIEL MANN