Willamette to cut all fitness classes for spring semester
For the upcoming spring 2027 semester, Willamette administration has decided to temporarily discontinue fitness classes (colloquially known as FITS). While the cut comes from budget concerns, FITS faculty mourn the loss of a fitness outlet for students outside of sports.
The FITS classes include fencing, pilates, yoga, tennis, and several other cardio and interval training courses. Historically, FITS classes like the skiing and snowboarding classes have been suspended due to lack of enrollment.
The suspension of classes is due to budgetary concerns, specifically by prioritizing general education classes as opposed to the exercise courses FITS offered. Willamette’s Interim Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences Kelley Strawn explained the process for deciding to cut the program.
“We have kind of a way of thinking about which ones are most important and for the mission,” Strawn said. “And those are usually major classes and gen ed classes, and making sure that first year students get on the classes that they need and things like that.”
He emphasized the importance of ensuring that the arts and sciences budget is properly balanced each year, “We do that for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is to keep education as affordable for everybody as possible.”
The class fee from each student taking a FITS class does not cover the overall cost of the program, or enough to compensate for the budgetary conflicts. Strawn emphasized that these classes are not permanently cancelled, just suspended, and will be reevaluated for the 2027-28 academic year.
The FITS classes, including fencing, provides not just an athletic activity for students, but an outlet outside of typical academia without the pressure of being a part of a varsity team.
In the past, Willamette student Laulea Miike (’27) took pilates, and is now taking fencing this semester. She said the FITS classes “give a lot of students an outlet, a place to relax outside of their classes.” She continues, reflecting on the suspension of the classes for the spring semester. “I'm lucky that I'm a senior and I'm able to take these classes right up until they're gone. But I feel for the other younger students who aren't able to.”
Without the class being offered, fencing professor Rafael Villarreal worries that the safe space fencing provided for Willamette students could be diminished. “I'm afraid that some of those people will just feel lost. And if you feel lost, [fencing] is a place where you can find something, and then go from there,” Villarreal said.
Villarreal maintains that the fencing class becomes a vital environment for the students who take it, teaching not just the beginnings of the sport, but sportsmanship, community and connection.
Villarreal expressed his plan to sustain the fencing club for the next semester, as a way to keep the sport active not just at the school, but in the Salem community. “This is the only place you can do standard fencing anywhere in Salem. Period,” Villarreal said. “I'm hoping they keep up the program or do a fencing club here.”
Reflecting on the end of the class this semester with his course’s imminent discontinuation, Villarreal concluded, “That's why I don't really want the program to end. It's a lot of fun.”
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