Jerry Gao, Contributing Photographer

A Change.org petition to “save recreational swimming at Payne Whitney Gymnasium” has gathered 134 signatures since it was created on Jan. 13.

The petition, created by Isaac Nakhimovsky, an associate professor of history and humanities, calls for reversing the October 2024 reduction in recreational swimming hours.

Currently, recreational lap swim hours are from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. on the weekends. Previously, the pool was open every day, totaling 35 hours weekly, or 19 hours more than now. 

The News interviewed two student lifeguards for recreational swimming, who requested to remain anonymous out of fear of losing their jobs. The lifeguards indicated scheduling difficulties and a lack of participation from hired lifeguards as reasons for the reduced working hours, as an increased number of lifeguards is required to operate the pool. A policy change last year required two lifeguards or more to be on duty for the pool to be open, which exacerbates the problem, according to the lifeguards. 

“They’re literally swimming on top of each other because it’s so crowded,” one lifeguard told the News, adding that even during the swimming hours, only one-half of the pool is open out of the two available pools. “If we had both sides of the pool, if we had the downstairs pool open — it has six lanes — it would be way less crowded.”

According to a Yale Athletics spokesperson, most lifeguards are students from Yale and nearby schools, making staffing noon hours during weekdays difficult. One lifeguard said the 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. slot is rarely filled.

In an email to the News, Yale Athletics wrote, “When the lifeguard staffing requirements cannot be met, the pool is not permitted to open.”

Yale Athletics wrote that unexpected closures are published as soon as possible, but in circumstances such as illness of a lifeguard or an emergency, the announcement may not come “until minutes before the pool is scheduled to open.”

In addition, Yale Athletics wrote that they are hiring more lifeguards and offering a paid class to certify them.

Of the lifeguards hired, participation is also low. One lifeguard interviewed said that of the 24 current lifeguards in a group chat, only about 10 go on duty every week. They estimated that around half of the lifeguards in their group chat rarely work.

Another lifeguard said that the high requirements for becoming a lifeguard  — applicants who were not previously certified must pay $149 for the training required — and the low pay, at $17.50 per hour, discourage applicants.

“We pay ourselves to get trained. We have to pay to take a multidate course with hours of work online work,” the lifeguard told the News, “So I think it’s just hard to hire enough guards at a low level of pay.”

Additionally, having only one lifeguard on guard, the lifeguard told the News, had been the policy for over a decade. The lifeguard said that the new requirement to have two lifeguards for the pool to be open is causing the reduced hours and unexpected closures.

One lifeguard told the News that the solution should be to hire full-time lifeguards.

“I feel like if other pools can do it Yale can do it too,” the lifeguard said. “They should have enough resources anyways to get people to work here.”

The petition cites Yale’s peer institutions — Harvard, Princeton, Brown and MIT— and the local Albertus Magnus College which all provide longer recreational swim hours. Nakhimovsky, who is on leave, did not respond to the News’ requests for comment.

The recreational lap swim pool is located on the third floor of the Payne Whitney Gymnasium.