TUESDAY
UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA
FUTUREOK.COM
MARCH 30, 1999 `FORCES OF NATURE'
Students create web-site..2
Movie Review 9
STUDENTS MAY DIE
SPORTS
Fear of public speaking....3
Softball 10
OKLAHOMA CAREERS
FORGOTTEN?
State capitol job fair 3
Student input 15
The Student Voice Since 1903
Edmond residents may receive access to UCO's proposed fitness center By Jarrod Briley stamrtter
S
ome Edmond residents, in addition to students, faculty and staff, may be granted access to the proposed fitness and wellness center at UCO, said an official Wednesday. Keith Weber, research assistant to the Office of the President, said that UCO administrators have considered granting some Edmond residents access to the center. "If there are community memberships at all, and that has yet to be determined, then there will be a very limited number of them," Weber said. "Granting community (access) has been a possibility all along, but (the administration) won't make that decision until the fitness center has been open for one semesters, or maybe two." Before opening the center to the public, UCO administrators want to determine if a plethora of students and faculty will frequently use the facility — if they do, the center will not be opened to the Edmond community, Weber said. Steve Kreidler, director of the Edmond Economic Development Authority, said Edmond officials and UCO officials met recently to discuss the fitness center. Edmond officials wanted to determine if the UCO fitness center was going to be "in conflict" with the Multi-Purpose Activity Center
(MAC). MAC is a public fitness and aquatic complex that Edmond officials are hoping to have erected at Mitch Park. Edmond officials wanted to know if UCO was going to grant Edmond residents access to the facility. "If UCO was going to allow (Edmond residents) to use the fitness center, then there would be no reason to go through with the MAC project," Kreidler said. However, Kreidler said UCO officials insisted that Edmond residents would likely not be granted access to the facility, and that the MAC would be constructed. But Marilyn Williams, director of the Edmond Senior Center, an activities center for senior citizens, said that the MAC complex, which has been in the planning stage for more than two years, would likely not be erected any time soon. "There just isn't enough money to build it," Williams said. During a meeting, unrelated to the fitness center, Weber and Williams discussed the possibility of UCO granting senior citizens access to the campus fitness center. "Naturally, the focus of the fitness center will be for students and faculty. But if senior citizens are invited to come, then (the Senior Center) would definitely not pass up that opportunity," Williams said.
– Staff photo by Shauna Hardway
Flying over you . • • From Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, TX, Scott Sidler (bottom) and Tracy Edwards (top) perform a duet titled "My Burdens, His Cross" at the South Central American College Dance Festival in Mitchell Hall Theatre on March 11th. Forty-six teams, including UCO, competed in the three-day festival. UCO's ensemble performed "Intersections" choreographed by Tina Kambour. UCO and nine other performances were honored with advancement to The Gala Concert last March 14.
$10,000 approved by Regents to remove asbestos on campus By Trent Dugas StailWriter
If there are community memberships at all, and that has yet to be determined, then there will be a very limited number of them. —Keith Weber research assistant to the Office of the President /
U
CO recently received approval to spend $10,000 to solicit bids and award a contract to remove and reduce asbestos materials on campus. The Board of Regents of Oklahoma Colleges approved the money for UCO last month. Facilities Management said the money is a "retainer fee" in case asbestos becomes a
problem on campus. exception of construction we Don Powers, director of just completed," Powers said. UCO Safety and Environmental "Asbestos was used in Management, said the UCO concrete, plaster, masonry campus has asbestos in almost work, glazing and compounds every building. Powers claims used to put windows in place, the asbestos is not an floor tiles, ceiling tiles and pipe immediate threat to students but insulation. In the older a problem could arise when structures it was the primary construction to old buildings ingredient." begins. Powers said his department "When you have a campus as takes measures to ensure the old as UCO, you have asbestos in nearly every facility with V See ASBESTOS, Page 3