Committee talks cost and space needs for possible student center
In an effort to bring back a sense of community and give recreation at Utah State room to grow, a committee met with planning officials last week to go over cost and space estimates for a new student recreation center.
ASUSU president Tyler Tolson campaigned twice with the rec center on his platform, and now it is taking shape, starting with weekly meetings between Tolson, Student Services and Campus Recreation.
“Building a building is really like flipping a U-turn in the Titanic,” Tolson said.
It won’t be an ordinary recreation center, Student Services Vice President James Morales said Friday. The goal is to make it a place for students with diverse interests to go.
“We’re calling it a fusion building,” Morales said.
“Fusion” implies bringing student services, student programming – events planned by students -– and recreation together in one building.
Students voted in 2000 to pass a fee increase that would pay for a new recreation center, but it derailed. Morales said competition with new fitness centers around Cache Valley is the reason the building’s progress met a dead end. More people live in the valley now, and Morales said it is past time for a new student recreation center.
“We’re probably 15 years behind where we should be,” Morales said.
The Health, Physical Education, and Recreation (HPER) building, where most student campus recreation is housed, was built in 1972. The Nelson Fieldhouse, also a building set aside for student recreation, was built in the 1930s. Outdoor Recreation is currently located on the north end of campus by the stadium. Kevin Kobe of the campus recreation department said demands for student recreation are expanding and a newer, more centralized facility is needed.
“We’re doing the best with what we have, but we’re kind of handcuffed,” Kobe said.
He said campus recreation is excited about a new effort to get this facility going. The HPER was built for 8,000 people, and now Utah State has over 17,000 students. Credit classes take priority, which limits how students can recreate on campus.
Tolson defended his plans for a rec center last year during ASUSU presidential debates. The major concern voiced by students is funding, and how much they will have to pay. Tolson said they are looking at the total cost of the building being somewhere around $35 million. The new College of Agriculture building, currently in construction, cost $43 million.
A student fee will pay for facility access and regular programs at this fusion building. Structured programs, such as some outdoor sports, may cost extra. Tolson and others involved in planning have toured recreational facilities similar to the one being planned for USU, and are using their numbers to estimate what costs will be like. Colorado State University, for example, charges students $29 for a rock climbing class.
“You could go swimming, you could go play, work out, do anything that is not being structured by somebody, for free,” Kobe said.
Morales said the student fee at other schools who have built similar recreation centers ranges from $40 to $140 a semester.
“The students today would vote for it, they would not pay for it,” Tolson said. “You would not have to pay until the doors opened. The students who use it would have to pay the fee.”
Other buildings on campus have been paid for by students, Tolson said. The Taggart Student Center and the Spectrum are examples.
“We (the students) own those buildings,” he said.
Tolson said if Student Services combines with Campus Recreation into one place, the fee for the TSC will go toward that building. How or if this will affect the student fee increase is not known.
Morales said based on surveys, most students support the idea of a new recreation center. There are different views on what the center could offer. Swimming pools, rock climbing walls, lounges, multipurpose rooms where students can watch away games, outdoor playing fields, counseling centers, and food services are just a few on the table.
Ultimately, though, what goes into this building is decided by students. Morales said although the TSC had a bowling alley in the basement at one time, students now may want to have a place to check out a Wii or an XBox instead.
“Things have changed a little bit as far as student interests,” Morales said. “The point is to reestablish a focal point for community building.”
While the cost and the amenities of such a building are major concerns, another is where to build it. Construction at Utah State is commonplace. The Emma Eccles Jones Early Childhood Education and Research Center was completed last September, and the College of Agriculture’s building is in the middle of construction east of the Quad. Those involved in planning agree the building must be central to campus.
“We hope to have it right in the heart of campus so that students can easily come and go,” Morales said.
At the moment, the most foreseeable space for a new building is where the old agricultural building is now. It will be torn down once the new one gets finished.
The plans for a fusion student rec center are still in the early stages, but Kobe said he expects the momentum to build. Eleven years in the making, and a new recreation center for students is on the plate for campus officials.
“You just start by talking,” Tolson said.
– la.stewart@aggiemail.usu.edu