 |
|
Center to
ease student recreational needs
Facility to include pool, track and multi-purpose
space |
Carrie
Baker
Business Affairs Beat |
 A
student fee increase approved last year will pay for the new student
recreation center (SRC), said Gregory S. Blimling, vice chancellor
for Student Development.
Blimling said the $142 yearly fee will entitle students to use the
SRC.
Construction on the center is slated to begin April 2003, said Clyde
D. Robbins, director of construction and design.
Right now, Robbins said the university is looking at a $21 million,
24-month project. That places the end of the project in 2005, barring
delays.
“This is an example of students benefiting from what other
students have paid for,” Blimling said. He said some students
may not immediately reap the benefits of the SRC while they are
paying the fee increase, but they are using facilities that students
in the past have funded.
“We must invest in the future of our institution,” Blimling
said.
Blimling said the Quinn Recreation Center and the Miles Annas Student
Support Building are examples of facilities funded by students in
past years that are currently used by students.
Joe R. Carter, director of University Recreation, said the “state
of the art facility” will be built on the existing chancellor’s
tennis courts. Carter said six new tennis courts will be built at
the end of the football stadium to replace the tennis courts that
will be demolished to make room for the center.
Carter said the SRC will also feature an indoor climbing wall, a
suspended track surface over a main gym, a 6,000-square-foot weight
room, a cardio and theater room, an auxiliary gym with a multipurpose
type floor, locker rooms and a pool that is twice as long as the
pool in the Broome-Kirk Health and Physical Education building.
“Students are going to wonder what they ever did without [the
student recreation center],” Carter said.
Carter said the SRC comes as an answer to “structure integrity
questions” about Broome-Kirk. Broome-Kirk is scheduled to be
demolished to make way for the new dining hall project.
Carter said the center will also supply additional space needed
for intramural and club sports.
“Intramural games have been going past midnight because of
space constraints,” Carter said.
The SRC will be for student recreation only and will not be available
to varsity sports. “[The] athletics program is good, but students
have been competing for time and space for recreational sports,”
Carter said.
The center will house space for instructional areas and offices
that will be lost when Broome-Kirk is removed.
Carter said he hopes the auxiliary gym will give club sports, such
as rugby, a place to practice indoors.
“A variety of activities can be held on the multipurpose flooring,”
Carter said. He said small concerts, too big for Legends but not
large enough for Farthing Auditorium, could even be held in the
auxiliary gym space.
“It will be a total student recreation facility space. We are
excited and hope students will be as well,” Carter said. |
|
 |
 |
