Intimidation, Disease Prevention Cited as Reasons for New Sleeveless Gym Policy

Are muscle-bound students working out in cut-off shirts too intimidating for people new to campus fitness, such as freshmen? Some people think so, and that’s one of the reasons that UW-Milwaukee officials are making everyone wear sleeved T-shirts to work out at the Klotsche Center.

The new policy was also created to ward off possible infections at the campus fitness center.

“This policy was created to promote a welcoming and inclusive environment for our diverse university population to protect the health and safety of our members and to protect our equipment and upholstery,” said Sara Luelloff, the fitness program director at the UWM Klotsche Center.

If you attend UW-Milwaukee and work out at the Klotsche Center, you know exactly what someone is talking about when they bring up the “T-shirt” rule.  The Klotsche Center passed the new rule starting fall semester that says all members who work out in the weight and cardio rooms must wear a shirt that “fully covers the back, shoulders, chest, stomach and sides.”

That meant no more giant cut offs that all the big lifters liked wearing so they could show off their huge muscles, and no more athletic tops for females. The new rule came as a big surprise to many people, although students are divided on it. Some students say they don’t really care, whereas others are upset, and rumors abound as to what caused the change.

“I think it’s kind of ridiculous. I think that I can wear whatever I want without being sexualized,” says Junior, Kelsey Tonne. Tonne just transferred to UWM this year—right after the dress code was starting to be enforced.

Some staff members aren’t sold on it, either. “Since I work out here a lot, I don’t like the idea, because I like my racer backs or tank-tops that I wear,” said Klotsche Fitness Center Staff  member Carlee Rosandich. “But obviously I knew I would have to enforce it. I was a little hesitant and scared because it’s kind of intimidating here sometimes. You don’t know how people are going to respond to the rule.”

Senior and regular Klotsche goer Matthew Bender didn’t know about the rule the first time he visited the workout facility. “I actually got in trouble for wearing a cut-off in the weight room and then that’s when I learned about the dress code,” Bender said.

University officials say that disease prevention was another reason for the new rule, although they acknowledge no one has gotten sick from working out in the past, that they know of. The Klotsche Center’s website says one of the concerning diseases is MRSA. According to the Mayo Clinic, MRSA is a staph infection spread by skin-to-skin contact.

However, Luelloff, said that a key impetus for the change was because of fear that muscle-bound men in cut-off shirts might deter freshmen from working out. Officials say the change was necessary for a “welcoming” and “inclusive” environment on a diverse campus.

“The policy started when we started getting complaints from people about the cut offs people were wearing in the fitness center where the upper body torso and chest was exposed and that can create intimidation for a lot of people who are new to working out,” Luelloff said.

“So we tried to put in a policy to eliminate that in the summer, and there was a lot of confusion about the policy and a lot of people didn’t abide by the policy. It was hard to enforce because the guidelines weren’t that clear, so we knew we needed to change the policy in some ways to make it easier to enforce. We wrote a bunch of different versions, but the only way to make it clear was to go with a full T-shirt.”

She said that officials did some research and that other schools have this rule as well, including UW-Whitewater.

If any member of the Klotsche Center doesn’t follow the rule, they are simply not allowed to use the work out equipment. For those people who forget T-shirts with sleeves, the facility offers the option to its members to rent out a T-shirt. Yes, rent out a T-shirt.

Joe Wegner was one of the people who had to rent out a shirt. “I was a little caught off guard when I walked in to work out, and they told me I couldn’t because of what I was wearing,” Wegner said. “I don’t think it’s a big deal; it will just take me some time to get used to it.”

Along with Wegner, Taylor Betters, a student at UWM, views the new policy as something that shouldn’t create too many troubles for students and other members. “I’m sure everyone has a T-shirt at home that has sleeves,” Betters said. “We’re fortunate enough to be able to use the facility without paying any extra fees so I don’t see why anyone would make a big deal out it.”

So many T-shirts were being checked during the first week the rule was applied, the center actually ran out of shirts.

“Having a T-shirt that fully covers the back, chest and armpits will significantly decrease the amount of sweat and body oil that is left on our equipment, which will create a greater barrier against disease transmission,”  added Luelloff.

Luelloff said it’s free to rent the shirts, but added, “The Klotsche Center asks that patrons return the shirts the same day. If they don’t, they’ll be charged $7 for the shirt. The Klotsche launders all the shirts and keeps a big stock of all sizes.”

Unacceptable attire at Klotsche includes a list of other things as well: Uncovered sports bras, a shirt that exposes the midriff, jeans; pants with rivets, belts, buttons or zippers; exposed buttocks/groin, flip flops, spikes, cleats, dress shoes, boots, open-toed shoes, or open-heeled shoes.

The rule has been in place for almost three months and, to Luelloff’s surprise, she hasn’t had many complaints. “We haven’t had a serious issues yet. A few people emailed me, but that’s about it,” Luelloff said. “For the people who emailed me, I offered them the opportunity to come in a talk to me about it, but no one has taken me up on my offer.”

The policy known as the “T-shirt” rule is in full effect and anyone who decides to use the Klotsche Center is going to have to deal with it. It might not make sense to all people, but what they need to understand is if you go to the K, wear some sleeves.

Senior and occasional Klotsche goer Josh Vandenavond felt that he didn’t fall under the category of people being affected by the new policy. “I always wear long sleeves when I’m at the gym,” Vandenavond said. “It wasn’t that big of a deal but there are people who wear, like, a loin cloth almost. And it was excluding sandals, but if you’re wearing sandals to the gym like, what? And dress shoes?”