Section A·Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Wednesday, November 18, 1998
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Continued from page 1A
Depending on the results of the survey, students may be asked to vote on a fee increase of anywhere from $20 to $45 per semester. This increase would come in addition to an immediate $15 fee increase, making student rec fees $28 until the center opens, which could be as early as Fall 2001. Then the remaining increase would kick in.
Supporters of the proposal hope the staggered timing takes care of complaints that students would be paying for something they would never use.
Jason Fizell, August 1986 graduate, opposed the 1996 proposal and still questions whether the new proposals are financially feasible.
Yoder's plan calls for a fee increase of between $35 and $60, compared to the 1996 plan's $90, for essentially the same improvements.
"It's bullshit," Fizell said. "They're claiming that they can get more done now with less money, and construction costs have gone up. The numbers just don't add up."
Where Yoder got his numbers
Student body vice president Scott Kaiser said that lower bond rates and finding ways to cut a new center's operations costs made lower costs possible.
Fizell says he fears that students will pass the rec center improvements at one fee, then find out somewhere down the line that more fees would be needed to complete the project.
Yoder started researching plans this summer and swears his numbers are valid.
"I would take the word of the University architect and administration over his," Yoder said. "If someone thinks those numbers are wrong and can prove it, that's fine with me. I want this to be done right."
Yoder admits the fees students will be asked to vote on are based on partial costs. The fee increases in Yoder's proposal are strictly for construction. Fizell's beef centers on the plan's exclusion of site-development costs — parking, landscaping, water hookups, an entryway, lighting and streets. The 1996 proposal included $1.82 million for site development. The present plan has nothing.
An exact student fee for Yoder's plan won't be calculated until the first fee is passed by students. He said that site-development costs would not be more than a few extra fee dollars.
Whatever the extra costs, they would be linked to where the center was built. It would cost more to build on West Campus than it would on an on-campus site.
Thomas Waechter, planning coordinator, said, "It could be a fairly significant number. Site-development costs could be included in the budget, but I suspect there will be additional costs depending on the site."
School Fee (dollars) Sq. footage Year built Year renovated Hours of operation (per week)
Texas Tech 115 131,000 1978 2000 93
Nebraska 50 285,000 1987 116
Oklahoma 50 102,000 1981 1997 72
Texas 50 400,000 1990 1997 120
Texas A&M 50 286,000 1995 120
Colorado 47.80 220,000 1971 1990 112
Oklahoma State 44.40 189,000 1968 1997 93
Missouri 39 150,000 1989 1998 114
Kansas State 33 175,000 1980 1995 115
Iowa State 30 220,000 1990 120
Kansas 13 94,638 1967 1980 54
Baylor ** 150,000 1975 1998 61
Average 47.98 200,220 99
Recreation centers in the Big 12
Average
** Because Baylor is a private institution, the fee is included in students' Kristi Elliott / KUMANSA
The most likely spots for a new center are between Robinson and the computer center, south of Watkins Health Center or a West Campus site near the one turned down in 1996. Problems with the West Campus site include its inconvenient distance from campus and higher site-development costs. Also, the property is owned by the Endowment Association and would have to be purchased, another cost not figured into Yoder's plan.
An on-campus site — between Robinson and the computer center or south of Watkins — would be cheaper but would lie within the "10-minute zone," property within easy walking distance of most campus buildings.
Robinson Center was built in 1967 with state funds. State law prohibits using state money to pay for University recreational centers, so Robinson was, and still is, classified as an academic building.
"The south of Watkins one is negotiable," Kaiser said. "But the other one (between Robinson and the computer center) I think is pretty much hands-off."
date makes it the oldest in the Big 12. And it's small—its 94,638 square feet are less than half of the Big 12 average. The building was renovated in 1880, and its current replacement cost is $23 million.
Stephen Hylton, Costa Rica junior, said he had seen several other universities' rec centers and Robinson was the worst.
Chester E. Peters Recreation Complex originally was built in 1980, but many Wildcat gym rats deemed the center outdated within the decade. In a vote similar to what Yoder is working for, K-State students voted to charge themselves $2.8 million for a renovation to Peters Complex. The project was completed in 1995.
Learning from K-State
"It's obvious that we have the worst facilities in the Big 12, but that doesn't make it an issue. It's only an issue if students want it to be."
Before and after classes, Robinson is open for recreation about 54 hours per week, less than half the hours available at seven conference universities. The Big 12 average is 99 hours of open rec time per week.
Kansas State University experienced similar problems just a few years ago.
Robinson is old—its 1967 construction
"K-State's facility makes Robinson look like a joke," said Clark Langermeier. Manhattan junior, a transfer student from K-State. "I think a lot of
Kevin Yoder Student body president
KU students don't know what they're missing." Kaiser said, "I think it's sad that we have a worse facility than K-State."
voters favored it fees did not increase.
K-State had three bonds — for the old recreation complex, the football stadium and the union — that were ready to be retired. The 1991 proposal merely continued the fees for the renovation.
But there's a K-State catch. Part of the reason for the whipping support that the K-State renovation received — 81 percent of student
"In our situation," said Raydon Robel, K-State director of recreational services, "the timing just happened to be right. Students were getting a lot for a little."
How KU compares with Big 12
Although student recreation fees at KU would increase considerably with
the passing of Yoder's proposal, the new figure would not be drastically more than students at other Big 12 schools pay.
Robinson may rank last in most recreation center categories, but KU students get what they pay for. The $13 that students put toward recreation each semester is less than 30 percent of the Big 12 average, the lowest in the conference and less than half of the next lowest total.
"It's obvious that we have the worst facilities in the Big 12, but that doesn't make it an issue," Yoder said. "It's only an issue if students want it to be."
no fee increase or improvement
To measure student opinion, Student Senate is distributing a rec survey that has four improvement options, with escalating price tags.
- a $12.5 million addition to Robinson that would call for a $20 to $25 bike in fees
- a new $17.5 million center at a location to be determined that would increase fees by $30 to $35
a new $22.5 million center at a location to be determined that would increase fees by $40 to $45
The fee-increases would go into effect upon completion of the project and would be in addition to the current $13 fee and an immediate $15 increase to cover planning costs.
Surveys to determine support for the various options have been handed out as part of recreation task force presentations at dorms and other organizations this semester. Senators, usually in groups of three, present their argument for recreation improvement in a presentation called "Let's Talk About Recreation."
Some have described the presentations as biased.
"A lot of people have mentioned that to me, that it's more of a sales pitch than a presentation," said Seth Hoffman, Nunemaker senator. "What they're giving is the where we're the worst and only the worst, and not where we're doing OK in some respects, like pool space."
Marlon Marshall, engineering senator, is on the task force. He has done several of the presentations and has heard similar complaints of bias.
"That's not what we're trying to do," he said. "If we find out that students don't want to do this, then our work is done. We wouldn't try to force anything."
There is one more wrinkle to this plan that a student vote cannot change: Any proposal of this magnitude must get Chancellor Robert Hemenway's signature, and students passing a referendum would not guarantee that.
"If the students voted for it, I would consider it," Hemenway said. "But I would reserve the right to make final judgment. We don't decide to build buildings on the basis of a referendum."
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