The timing couldn’t be any worse for a new Recreation and Wellness Center at Cal State Long Beach. The unveiling of the center will be riding the tail end of state budget cuts and rising tuition fees.
The $66 million gentrification project will be funded through a student fee increase of $110 per semester and an $83 increase for the summer. The mandatory fees will be paid by every student, regardless if he or she ever uses the facility or its amenities.
The center was approved back in May 2007 after Associated Students, Inc. and the University Student Union Board of Trustees conducted meetings, focus groups and online surveys. Although these “highly scientific measures” were taken, there was still hesitation as to whether or not the center would be built.
In 2006 the proposed project was at the center of a controversy regarding a computer hacker who “falsely interjected” at least 300 to 1,000 votes to show a higher level of disproval for the center, according to a May 15, 2006, Daily Forty-Niner article, “University investigates survey manipulation in rec. center survey.”
In the same article, CSULB President F. King Alexander is quoted as saying, “I don’t know if they think it’s a joke or if they are promoting an agenda, but it certainly adds to the fact that the results indicate students want a facility.”
In the end the voting required a do-over. According to the California State University, Long Beach Student Recreation and Wellness Center website, in February 2007 “students voted 74.7 percent to 25.2 percent” for the center. The “facts” even go as far as to say that there was a higher concentration of female voters.
Before we give ASI a pat on the back for honesty and integrity, it goes without saying that percentages really don’t tell you anything unless there are supportive numbers.
In fact, any numbers reflecting student approval are misleading. For example, the website also explains that 23 percent of roughly 8,000 CSULB students participated in an online survey about the center in the fall of 2005. Of the 23 percent, 54 percent were in support of building the center.
CSULB is not the only campus to consider a recreation center. In early March, Cal Poly Pomona students rallied against a $90 million facility that carried a $149 per semester price tag. The proposed 126,000 square-foot center would have been similar to CSULB’s.
Of course, the 125,000-square-foot facility (with its eight basketball courts, volleyball and badminton courts, climbing walls and aerobics classes) sounds appealing. And students will not have to pay the fee until the facility actually opens in 2010. Whew.
We can definitely think of other campus buildings that are in need of some love, but those were not on the referendum.
The priorities of ASI are questionable at a time when summer classes are being cut and students are already struggling to pay the current costs.
Who knows if ASI factored in the loss of many summer classes, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget cuts, skyrocketing student tuition, lower enrollment numbers or a national economic recession when determining our ability to pay for building a new playhouse? Did they weigh the parking fee increases and escalating textbook costs? Probably not. That could ruin even a yoga class.
With all of the current strains on the economy and the student wallet, how will ASI raise the $700,000 estimated annual salary for 12 full-time professional staffers and student employees to run the place? We’ll give you approximately 35,000 guesses.
The center will gobble up prime real estate for parking, except for the new structure we’re also paying for. But we suppose after students drive around for 30 minutes on our parking-deficient campus, they can go get a rock massage to reduce stress.
