BY LUCY MAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The University of Cincinnati's board of trustees on Tuesday unanimously endorsed the idea of building a center that officials hope will become the hub of campus life and help attract top students.
The building would cost $120 million to $140 million and include such amenities as workout rooms, restaurants and shops. The bulk of the project's cost would be paid for by an increase in student fees, said Greg Hand, a UC spokesman.
The Campus Life Complex would sit amid Tangeman University Center, Nippert Stadium, the bookstore and the Armory Fieldhouse. Laurence Hall and an old utilities plant would be demolished to make way for the center.
No specific fee increase has been determined to pay for the building, but "every indication is that it would be less than $100 a quarter," Mr. Hand said.
Full-time UC students now pay $185 per quarter in non-instructional fees.
Obalaye Macharia, a second-year liberal arts student from Findlater Gardens in Winton Hills, said he doesn't like the sound of increasing students' costs for any reason.
"We do need a facility where we can gather," he said. "Should it be raising tuition for that? I don't think so. I think the administration should come up with a creative way to pay for these things."
Mr. Hand said university surveys indicate students are willing to pay for a place where they can gather and talk to other students and meet with professors outside class.
But Mr. Macharia, who is an officer in UC's student government, said he doesn't know of any students who support increases in fees or tuition.
"Students haven't been a priority at this campus for a long time," he said. "We shouldn't have to pay to be the priority."
University officials view the inadequacy of UC's student union and recreation spaces as a "serious competitive weakness" when compared to other universities in Ohio and across the country, said a report for trustees prepared by Dale McGirr, the university's vice president for finance.
Facilities that do exist are scattered among several buildings and often are booked, leaving students without space in which to gather.
Officials have been studying the possibility of a new student center for months, Mr. Hand said, and the board's action Tuesday will allow officials to develop more specific architectural and financing plans.
Officials will present trustees with a funding plan next year, according to Mr. McGirr's report.
Also Tuesday, the board unanimously approved a plan to build several smaller student housing complexes instead of one big dormitory. Students prefer apartment-style living to traditional dorms, Mr. Hand said, and they would rather have housing on campus instead of on the fringes of the university.
So the board voted to allow $36.5 million previously set aside for one big dorm to be used for several smaller housing complexes instead.
The sites to be studied for the student housing include the university tennis court site, a spot near the Alumni Center and a site west of the YMCA on Calhoun Street.
The university plans to build a total of 630 housing units in buildings no taller than five stories each.
