Students have voted, and their voices have been heard.
Laurie Braden, the University Recreation Center director, released results from the recent University Recreation Growth and Expansion survey, which was open for student polling from Nov. 8 to 14, to Student Government President Cody Wells and Senate Speaker Aaron Caffarel on Tuesday.
With more than 4,260 students participating in the survey, “92 percent of the students agree that making LSU better for the future by improving recreation, fitness and wellness facilities is important to current and future students,” and 76 percent said they would support an additional fee to meet this cause, Braden said in e-mail to Wells and Caffarel.
The purpose of the survey was to collect student feedback on the possible expansion of the UREC facilities at an added fee.
The current UREC fee for a full-time student is $65 each semester. If the expansion were approved, Braden said one possible scenario would include a $45 fee increase each year for the next three years, which would eventually add up to and cap at a $200 fee per semester, Braden said.
In the survey, 50 percent of participating students agreed an additional fee between $35 and $50 would be an acceptable addition to the current fee each semester.
“This group of respondents would likely indicate a favorable response to the possible scenario that UREC presented to student groups over the last two weeks that illustrated the $81.5 million illustration at a projected increase of $45 per semester over a three-year period,” Braden stated in the e-mail.
The SG Senate will continue to discuss the project tonight at its weekly meeting in the Capital Chamber in the Union. The senators will also present resolutions to urge Chancellor Michael Martin to approve the expansion project.
Ryan Parish, construction management junior, said he supports the additional fee.
“It gives students more opportunities to do things on campus, and this would be just one way to get students to get involved,” Parish said.
But some students who don’t use the UREC facilities say they are not in favor of the increased fee. Chantel Hamin, biological sciences junior, is one of them.
“I don’t go to the UREC too often,” she said. “I wouldn’t be in favor of the increase since I don’t utilize