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Students want say in union redesign
Senators vote for more control over student-funded building project
Breann Schossow
Issue date: 10/15/09 Section: Campus News
Student Senate voted almost unanimously in favor of a resolution for a student perspective on the redesign of the new student union after a nearly two-hour debate Monday night.
Senate voted 26-2-0 on a resolution that requested:
• That Division of State Facilities, which manages the state's real estate portfolio, provide a new estimate of the original building design in line with state averages. The estimate for the new student union's initial plans was $48.8 million;
• DSF formally instruct architectural and engineering firms to estimate all design options using state averages provided in the DSF re-estimate report;
• Any money newly available from re-estimation be spent on anything in project budget other than architectural, engineering and DSF fees; and
• All redesign options brought to the Davies Steering Committee state additional fees connected to design options in the budget that involve architectural, engineering and DSF fees.
One of the co-authors of the resolution, Sen. Paydon Miller, said in order to write the resolution, two groups of students - those opposed to a redesign and those who took the Council Oak into consideration - joined forces to put the resolution together.
"There was a little bit of a disagreement within Senate between those two factions," Miller said. "We thought coming to a compromise in that regard would be the best bet to make everybody happy and better serve the students."
The discussion circled around two amendments proposed by Sen. Jacob Kampen and Sen. Phil Rynish. Both amendments failed.
Miller said he was a little surprised by Kampen's amendment, but he didn't think it was unreasonable.
Kampen proposed the third bullet point be removed because he said parts seemed hostile.
"I'm not really sure if all basis of the resolution was based on fact," he said. "Some of it seemed based on hearsay to me. … It might have directed some of the dissatisfaction to the wrong parties."
Senate voted 26-2-0 on a resolution that requested:
• That Division of State Facilities, which manages the state's real estate portfolio, provide a new estimate of the original building design in line with state averages. The estimate for the new student union's initial plans was $48.8 million;
• DSF formally instruct architectural and engineering firms to estimate all design options using state averages provided in the DSF re-estimate report;
• Any money newly available from re-estimation be spent on anything in project budget other than architectural, engineering and DSF fees; and
• All redesign options brought to the Davies Steering Committee state additional fees connected to design options in the budget that involve architectural, engineering and DSF fees.
One of the co-authors of the resolution, Sen. Paydon Miller, said in order to write the resolution, two groups of students - those opposed to a redesign and those who took the Council Oak into consideration - joined forces to put the resolution together.
"There was a little bit of a disagreement within Senate between those two factions," Miller said. "We thought coming to a compromise in that regard would be the best bet to make everybody happy and better serve the students."
The discussion circled around two amendments proposed by Sen. Jacob Kampen and Sen. Phil Rynish. Both amendments failed.
Miller said he was a little surprised by Kampen's amendment, but he didn't think it was unreasonable.
Kampen proposed the third bullet point be removed because he said parts seemed hostile.
"I'm not really sure if all basis of the resolution was based on fact," he said. "Some of it seemed based on hearsay to me. … It might have directed some of the dissatisfaction to the wrong parties."
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