The Traveler

An outside firm hired by the university to determine what students want included in the renovation of the Student Union did an oral presentation on their findings Thursday after taking suggestions from students the two days beforehand, said Jarrid Freeman, director of the Union.

"We are not making changes just for the sake of making changes," Freeman said. "We are trying to make changes to help students."

Freeman is part of a committee of faculty, staff and students that was convened a year and a half ago to determine how the Union needs to be renovated. There is no master plan yet, but the committee has determined that some renovations are necessary, Freeman said.

"There is nothing that will happen as of yet," Freeman said. "There is nothing that we know will not happen as of yet."

The preliminary report suggested that the Union have a bigger ballroom, a game room and be more open, Freeman said. In the older part of the Union, much of which has not been renovated since it was built in the 1960s, cooling units and boilers need to be replaced, he said. The roof and plumbing will also need to be renovated, Freeman said.

The Associated Student Government President Carter Ford is also a member of the committee and has also heard the report. One of the major ideas suggested was to make the inside of the Union a continuance of the Union Mall by making it more open, Ford said. This could mean knocking down the wall separating the union living room to the Connections Lounge, Ford said. The fireplace in the wall and the mural would likely be moved somewhere else, Freeman said.

"They want the Union to be more open because it feels more connected," Freeman said.

Other suggestions included adding a satellite HPER building in the Union and using a building between the Union and Silas Hunt Hall for the ballroom, Ford said. Currently, the committee has no idea what the final renovations will be or what they will cost, which may make things difficult because the committee has "no idea" how to fund the renovation, Freeman said.

"The major issue right now is funding," Ford said.

The Union has a $1 million operating shortfall this year, Freeman said. The committee has looked at two possibilities to fund the renovation, Ford said. The first would be to increase student fees, but Ford and Chancellor G. David Gearhart have agreed not to increase student fees any further at this time, he said.

"We are not increasing student fees," Ford said.

The second option would be to get money out of the E and G budget, which is made up of non-earmarked funds used to pay faculty, Ford said. This budget fluctuates with the economy, Ford said.

While the committee does not know how they will pay for this renovation, the Union cannot go without it, Freeman said. The university's enrollment is growing and the Union must grow with it, he said. The Union is too small already for the campus community, Freeman said.

"We don't have enough space for the departments here," Freeman said. "The building won't even stay open if we don't address some issues."

Don Bell, a junior kinesiology major thinks the Union is fine how it is, particularly the fireplace, he said.

"I think it's nice how it is. I am from UCA, so we did not have this stuff," Bell said. "It was like going from high school to a real university."

Zach Whaley, a junior business major thinks the Union is just the right size for the university, he said. The wall separating the Union living room and the Connections Lounge should not be torn down because the wall makes it easier for him to study in the living room, Whaley said. Whaley would add more fast food to the Union Market because currently it only has Chick-Fil-A and Burger King, he said.

Josie McConnell, a senior political science major agrees that the fireplace should not be moved, she said. If she could change one thing about the Union, it would be to increase the size of the stage theater, McConnell said.

"I love the fireplace," McConnell said. "I think that moving it would make the Union noisier."

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