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Contact: Leigh Flynn
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466
9/08/98
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NATCHITOCHES - Students at Northwestern State University will decide on Sept. 16 and 17 whether to fund a new wellness and recreation center on campus.
A recent vote by the University of Louisiana System Board of Trustees allows Northwestern's Student Government Association to put the referendum on a ballot for consideration by the student body.
The referendum calls for major renovation of the existing intramural facility, which was built in 1939. Luke Dowden, president of the SGA, said the only significant renovations to the building since that time were the installation of a new roof, new piping and a new gymnasium floor.
The facility is structurally sound, said NSU's Facilities Coordinator W.K. Norman. The space within the existing building is simply inadequate for the number of students, he said, and the construction of a new facility would be too costly.
The proposition calls for the existing building to be expanded from 39,000 square feet to 80,000 completed square feet, Norman said. An additional 20,000 square feet would be constructed but would not be completed until a later date, he said, making the new building a total of 100,000 square feet.
If the referendum is passed by the students, the facility would have a new look and a new name to accompany that look. The proposed new name for the facility is The Demon Wellness, Recreation and Activity Center.
The new facility would include a second regulation-sized basketball court, four racquetball courts in the existing weight room, a new weight room, an aerobics area, an indoor track and a wellness center.
Norman said the areas not developed during the initial construction might be used for the future development of a a multipurpose area and a child care center to serve non-traditional students' needs.
The new facility would envelop the existing IM building, incorporating some of the structure into the design of the new facility, Norman said.
But it would "basically be a totally new building," he said. "It will change the whole concept of the building."
The projected cost for renovation of the building is $6.9 million, Norman said. He added that, if a new structure were to be built for the same amount, the facility would only be 60,000 square feet.
The referendum calls for the costs to be paid for with a student-assessed fee of $75 for students carrying five or more credit hours during the fall and spring semesters. Summer students who are carrying seven or more hours will also be required to pay the fee.
If the referendum is passed, the fee will be effective in the spring semester. Currently, students pay a $5 fee per semester for the use of the IM facility.
Dowden said the fee is broken into two parts -- with $42 going toward construction and the remaining $33 for continued staffing, programming and operation of the WRAC. The fee would be for a 25-year period, at which time the $42 construction fee would be retired.
Students required to pay the fee who graduate before the facility is complete will have access to the facility for the same amount of time for which they paid the fee.
If the referendum is approved, Dowden said the WRAC could be completed by 2001 or 2002.
He said the facility would be an asset to the University.
"We're being responsible," Dowden said. "It's a good plan. It's not too much."
"It stands in the center of campus, and I think it would be something the students would be proud of, since they paid for it," Norman said. "It's going to be a great facility. We would be the envy of a lot of universities."