Students will have one extra month to get in tip-top shape before breaking out shorts and tank tops for spring break. The Malkin Athletic Center (MAC) will not close for renovations until late March, a month later than originally scheduled, the Department of Athletics announced yesterday.

In a statement, the department also announced preliminary plans for relocating club and Intramural (IM) sports during the seven-month construction project, now expected to be completed by the end of October 2007.

The delay will allow greater flexibility in relocating athletic activity because most winter intercollegiate sports will have ended in March, according to Associate Director of Athletics Jeremy Gibson.

“For example, we will be able to move recreational and intramural gymnasium activity to [the Murr Center’s] Lavietes Pavillion because the varsity basketball seasons will be ending,” Gibson wrote in an e-mail.

The change comes just over three weeks after two undergraduates began an online petition to protest the University’s announcement of the MAC’s closing without consulting students.

Although Gibson did not say the scheduling change is in response to student objections, he wrote that “we certainly heard and have tried to be attentive to student concerns.”

But “ultimately, the decision to start construction in March was made because it made the most sense,” he added.

“Hopefully the petition, along with the countless e-mails and conversations that we’ve all shared, tipped the case for change in our favor,” wrote Ali A. Zaidi ’08, in an e-mail.

Yesterday’s announcement shows that students’ role in University decision-making should not be ignored, Zaidi wrote.

“We are stakeholders within this institution and we must share a greater degree of intimacy in the decision-making process,” Zaidi wrote.

In addition to the Murr Center, club and IM sports will also be taking place at the Quadrangle Recreational Athletic Center (QRAC), Hemenway Gymnasium, Soldiers Field athletic fields, and activity space at Hilles, according to the statement. Blodgett Pool will also be extending its hours.

The revised construction schedule will minimize impact on IM sports because from March to October they are primarily played outdoors, according to Gibson.

—Staff writer Emily J. Nelson can be reached at ejnelson@fas.harvard.edu.