Yes to a Summer Gym. Yes to Transparency and Dialogue at ASVZ.
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For a More Transparent and User-Oriented ASVZ.
Dear representatives of the Zurich university associations,
Dear members of the university leaderships,
The ASVZ has long been a vital and respected pillar of Zurich’s university sports culture. The foundational work of earlier leadership figures, such as Kaspar Egger [1, 2], who closely linked physical activity with mental regeneration, continues to shape the identity of the association today. However, numerous recent developments are, in the view of many users, no longer aligned with grounding principles of the ASVZ mission statement. Particularly, this petition refers to:
a) Poor planning and inadequate decisions
The 5-month shutdown (20.04-30.09.2026) of key facilities such as the Hönggerberg gym was decided without transitional solutions. The complete discontinuation of all wellness facilities indicates a continuous reduction in infrastructure without examining modular alternatives. This clearly contradicts ASVZ's statement of a “year-round […] diverse […] sports offering” for all user groups [3].
The bouldering facility also remained closed for the entire summer in 2025, although the work could have been scheduled differently. The incident involving the sudden postponement of a volleyball tournament is equally concerning. The timing of the gym closure, right in the examination phase, further increases the strain on students, especially first-year cohorts.
All of this occurs despite very positive financial outcome from the yearly report 2024 [4].
→ See Footnote A for details
b) Insufficient feedback culture and lack of user involvement
Despite explicitly committing [3] to a “constructive feedback culture” and “clear processes”, consultation requests from institutional groups and the broader community, along with other petitions like in 2023 [5] and in 2026 [6], did not lead to any minor (or major) revisions of the decisions. The termination of contracts of experienced trainers despite staff shortages contradicts the ASVZ’s claim of being a “model employer”. This also applies to the extensive use of hourly contracts, even where individual instructors work a high number of hours on a regular weekly basis, an extent that would make a part-time employment assessment appropriate [7].
→ See Footnote B for details
c) Communication problems affecting users
Many decisions were communicated top-down, without timely information for those affected. Users often learned only shortly before implementation that services would be suspended for months or not repaired. No compensation was offered for outages, like gym closure.
→ See Footnote C for details
Demands
The undersigned call on the Zurich university associations and university leaderships to thoroughly review and realign the ASVZ leadership’s strategic and personnel decisions.
We specifically demand:
A transparent review and further development of ASVZ leadership structures to strengthen transparency, accountability, and user-oriented governance.
Strengthening the diversity and accessibility of ASVZ offerings in accordance with its mission.
Transparent decision-making and a functional culture of dialogue and feedback.
Campus-wide, long-term, and needs-oriented planning of space and infrastructure (especially on the Hönggerberg campus).
Continued commitment to the ASVZ tradition of expanding and inclusively developing offerings for all user groups.
This petition aims to initiate a constructive, solution-oriented dialogue to secure the quality and future of university sports in Zurich.
Footnotes / Background Information
A — Examples of inadequate planning
Hönggerberg gym: A 5-month long closure represents a major loss of training opportunities during a two-year master’s degree and forces campus-residing students to rely on external fitness centres.
Other ASVZ sites: Fitness facilities at Irchel and Polyterrasse are already heavily used year-round, leading to even greater overcrowding and increased pressure on ETH-Link connections and public transport.
Modular solutions: During the COVID period, transitional models (capacity limits, staggered times) worked effectively; why no such solutions were examined here remains unclear. Given that only the sauna area requires full renovation, a short closure followed by limited, safe, modular reopening of the fitness area would have been viable.
Bouldering facility: Closed for the entire summer although work could have been scheduled during the winter shutdown.
Wellness facilities: All three sites (Irchel, Fluntern, Hönggerberg) lost their wellness offerings; the argument of “space limitations” does not apply to Irchel or Fluntern.
Volleyball tournament incident: Teams arrived only to learn on site that the hall was unplayable due to solvent fumes from a freshly painted wall. Despite an announced communication from the organisers, no prior notice was issued.
Finances: “The 2024 financial year was very positive […] surplus CHF 804,708.41 […] association assets CHF 3,528,227.63 […] over 2 million visits.” [4]Despite this, funds went into dismantling existing offerings rather than creating new spaces.
B — Feedback culture & involvement
Requests from AVETH and WiNS did not lead to any visible reconsideration.
The 2023 petition (> 200 signatures) [5] and the 2026 petition (> 600 signatures) [6] had no observable impact.
Trainers over 65 are not retained despite staff shortages:
TRX course (Tuesday evening, Hönggerberg) cancelled without replacement.
The Djembe community received only a technical reply (“extension options exhausted”) without substantive explanation after losing its long-standing instructor.
Alumni are listed as a user group in the mission statement but remain unrepresented on the ASVZ board.
Hourly contracting can be problematic under Swiss employment and social-security rules when a high number of hours are worked weekly on a regular basis and organisational integration is high; AHV offices often assess such cases as potential de-facto employment (especially with income dependency on a single client as previous rulings suggest [8, 9]).
C — Communication problems
Communication is predominantly top-down, without timely information.
Short-notice cancellations (e.g., TRX and Monday-morning classes, Super Kondi on Fridays, etc.) hinder reliable planning; they are also linked to the deliberate non-employment of experienced trainers over 65.
Example Hönggerberg: Annual-pass users learned only during the ongoing subscription year that the gym would be closed for five months.
Daria Maslennikova, David Lemle
[1] https://www.kommunikation.uzh.ch/static/unimagazin/archiv/4-96/asvz.html
[2] https://www.uzh.ch/de/explore/portrait/awards/senators/2013/egger.html
[3] https://www.asvz.ch/en/node/624#details1-fold-92-0
[4] https://www.asvz.ch/sites/default/files/imce/documents/_ÜBER%20ASVZ/ASVZ_Jahresbericht_2024_Web.pdf