Senators voiced their concerns
about the athletic recommendation to Athletic Director Roachel
J. Laney Tuesday in the SGA senate meeting.
Many senators expressed
concern over the possibility of a student fee increase to pay for
renovations to the university’s athletic facilities proposed
at Tuesday’s Student Government Association meeting.
“I’m concerned about just taking another
fee increase to pay for this,” said Dorothy M. Andrews, an
off-campus senator. “This plan may not benefit that many students.
The university is in dire financial straits; our focus needs to
be on education, not athletics.”
Like Andrews,
many of the senators were concerned about the expressed need for
renovations during the current budget troubles.
“I want to be prepared when the university comes to us with
the figures, to know exactly what this will cost and why,”
said Heather A. Robertson, an off-campus senator. “Personally
I’d like to see [the renovations] spread out over time. I’m
not denying that it’s needed, but in light of the budget problems,
it may need to be something farther off, not in the near future.”
Even senators who favored the proposal had concerns over how many
students it would benefit.
“I like the proposal a lot; I definitely want to see something
done about Kidd Brewer Stadium,” said Howard R. Schreiber,
a senator from East Residence Hall. “But I feel it favors the
football team; I’d like to see [the proposal] help out the
other 19 sports teams on campus.”
The renovations, proposed by the Athletic Opportunities Committee
(AOC), are estimated to cost up to $30 million, with the money to
be raised from a combination of private donations and student fees.
“There’s talk of this being the best time and worst time.
When is the appropriate time? I couldn’t answer that; raising
money is always difficult,” said Athletic Director Roachel
J. Laney. “This will effect the learning environment on the
entire campus. We want [athletics] to be something that stands out,
and right now we’re way, way behind.”
The AOC is a group formed by Chancellor Francis T. Borkowski consisting
of faculty, staff, alumni, parents and a variety of other figures.
The committee has been working since February on a proposal to renovate
many of Appalachian State’s athletic facilities.
Laney said the plans were absolutely necessary for Appalachian State
to maintain the current quality of its athletic program.
