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Monday, November 21, 2011 Vol. 36, Iss. 13
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University of Colorado Colorado Springs Weekly Campus Newspaper
SGA committees planning for changes at UCCS Molly Mrazek mmrazek@uccs.edu
The president of the Student Government Association, Jarod Gray, could think of what seven of the SGA committees were up to off the top of his head. The committees of the SGA have been busy this semester planning changes for UCCS, recruiting and appointing new members and meeting the students. The Public Relations Committee is working on getting new signage to go in front of the SGA office as well as a banner. They are also trying to plan meet and greet sessions with all the members of the House and Senate. The Budget Advisory Committee (BAC) has been meeting to talk about the SGA’s budget and to meet with clubs to talk about how much money they are able to provide them for certain events. So far this semester, the SGA has spent around $40,000 of their $49,000 dollar budget allotted to them each semester to disperse to different
clubs. Gray said that the director of finance, Evan Shelton, keeps the exact numbers for the budget but they are going to start to post the budget information on the SGA Facebook page. Gray said the Appointments Committee meets every Friday before the joint session to interview people, bring in new members and orient them on the workings of SGA. Although he’s not on the Appointments Committee, Gray did say that this year, there has been less replacing of members and more filling of positions. For example, the senator of multicultural affairs had left and they recently appointed a new one. The Government Affairs Committee has been busy trying to get public speakers scheduled for the spring semester. Meanwhile, the SGA Awards Committee has been meeting in order to give out awards. Gray said that they give out a parking spot on campus each month. The Campus Safety Committee has just been
given money to fix a problem that has come to their attention last year: the lack of crosswalks in the Four Diamonds’ parking lots. The money has come from the state and from an SGA fund called the Plant Fund. Finally, the Student Union Committee is working to create an assessment for the current
services offered at the University Center and find out in which areas it may be lacking. There have been a lot of changes that Gray spoke of. As president, he was excited to see something new he proposed be approved by his fellow SGA members. It’s a form called the concern proposal; with this form, stu-
dents can request changes or bring attention to any issues they see at UCCS. Along with that, there have been a couple resolutions passed: the resolution to support Proposition 103 and a veteran’s and military affairs recognition resolution. Something to possibly look forward to that Gray would like to see come to
fruition before his tenure is up is the installation of vending machines in Columbine and University Hall. These vending machines would have scantrons and blue books for students to purchase so they wouldn’t have to go all the way to the bookstore if they should forget either item on a test day. S
that we can use for ourselves,” said Gaden, who has been director of campus recreation since July 2007. One of the survey results Gaden thought was interesting was the reasons people don’t come to the Recreation Center. “We got a pretty good list from what keeps people from coming and working out here,” he said. “One of the major issues was parking, but a lot of people also said the lack of space, equipment and specialty fitness classes were also issues.” According to the survey results, which Gaden and staff plan to post in the coming months, about 76
percent of survey respondents would be in favor of expanding the current Recreation Center. Another result was that 78 percent of respondents would also be in favor of raising the current student Recreation Center fees to help pay for the possible expansion. “The whole point of the survey was to figure out what our students want and what is important to them at the Rec Center,” Gaden explained. “This survey also is kind of a guiding document for the architecture company that will help us with the possible expansion.” One of the reasons Gaden and his staff came
up with the survey was because of things they were seeing at the Recreation Center every day. Intramurals were taking up the gym space every night, the upper level of the center was overcrowded during peak hours, and the demand for space and programming was outweighing what the center could physically offer, he said. “Our student enrollment has gone [up] about 20 percent and keeps increasing every year since we opened four years ago,” stated Gaden. “Based on our enrollment, our Recreation Center should be at about 100,000 square feet; we are currently only at about 54,000.”
Looking at the survey and other research on the topic of expansion, Gaden hopes that by Spring 2012, they can get the ball rolling on the project and meet the demand the students are asking for. “A key date for us will be March of 2012. That is when the SGA has their elections and one of things that will be on the ballot will be the expansion project,” said Gaden. Pending the SGA vote, the idea will then go to the CU Board of Regents, where Gaden hopes it will get approved sometime over the summer. “If the idea does get passed by both the SGA and the Board of Regents, we can
then start the architectural phase of the project,” he said. Although the project is still in the conceptual stages, Gaden believes that the spring semester of 2012 will be a key point in the process. “We hope to have forums, student focus groups, presentations and other events that will give the students a better understanding of the project,” he said. “The survey gave us a good feel from the students and they offered a lot of feedback and positive support. Now, we need to find a balance point between the features that the students want and making the project cost efficient.” S
Photo by Robert Solis
SGA President Jarod Gray works diligently in his office.
Student survey results spark Rec Center expansion project Ryan Adams radams3@uccs.edu
After hearing from the campus community, Matt Gaden, director of campus recreation, and his staff are set to embark on a multi-year expansion of the current campus Recreation Center. Gaden put out a survey to students this fall asking them to voice their opinions and offer up ideas on how the Recreation Center can become better than it already is. “The survey results were very helpful because we ended up getting not only some cool user demographics but good data
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