The OC Rec Center Discussion Thread
The Student Recreation Center (SRC) and its chronic budget woes have become one of the most pressing issues facing the ASUO, and was the subject of a feature in the Winter Issue of the Commentator. In order to get raise more awareness about the issue, I have asked Student Recreation Center Advisory Council Chairman Richard Pryor to write up some thoughts for this blog. Students will face a referendum on this issue in the coming election, and so I hope this thread will help answer questions about the problem and the possible solutions.
So, here’s the current situation in a nutshell:
There are essentially two potential futures for the beleaguered Rec Center that are currently being evaluated. Solution one sees the Rec center remain a part of the incidental fee and remain on the budget books of the Programs Finance Committee (what we currently have). Solution two sees the rec center move away from the incidental fee, expand the current “Rec Fee” to incorporate the cost of operating at current service level, and have this fee be evaluated by a new fee committee that has only a modicum of involvement with the ASUO, most likely in the form of Exec and Senate appointed members of this committee.
Here’s the projected outcome of these two solutions. The situation that the rec is currently in is the result of the 7% increase cap instituted by the pfc. Because of this cap, the rec center has not been able to keep up with rising costs that come as a result of OUS mandated expenditures. To simplify that, these expenditures are costs that the state says the rec center has to make, or else…In reality, the or else is that they will take control of the rec center away from the UofO entirely, meaning no one, not the senate, not the administration, no one is in control. From there it would be easy for them to decide the rec center is not a cost effective auxiliary on campus and close its doors entirely. Freaky shit.
If the rec center were to remain on the I-fee, it would continually face the 7% cap, as well as be put at the mercy of the “fiscally responsible” PFC where there budget would continue to grow much slower than needs would. Essentially, the rec center would rot and die, never receiving the funding it needs to stabilize or even operate and services would be cut one at a time until there is nothing left for students to do there when they walk in the doors.
Solution two would see the rec center becoming autonomous on this campus with a fee that is regulated by a group of students not of the senate. As a result of this, the I-fee would shrink by 1,000,000+ dollars and it would no longer have to keep going up to meet the costs the rec center needs to remain stable. The Rec Fee would grow large enough to support the operating costs of the SRC and Rec sports, which, let’s face it, needs to stay with its parent organization of PARS.
Once the rec fee reached a point where it could fund those groups at current service level, it would only increase as needed to maintain those current services. Or, let’s say the student fee committee decided they wanted to see the SRC to get creative with their budget, propose a decrease. Stranger things have happened. This budget that is evaluated by the fee committee would be submitted to the VP for Student Affairs who would then give it to Frohnmayer for approval. STUDENTS WOULD STILL HOLD VETO POWER!!!!!!!!!!
Here’s my observation of why the senate is reluctant to go for Solution 2. They think that students who are not senators will not be able to responsibly allocate a fee of student dollars, and the result will be an SRC budget that doubles and then triples in subsequent years. Why might they think this? A couple of reasons. First of all, as was pointed out by senator Justice, “The rec center has never spent within their allocated budget”. The natural question that results from that is “What does the rec centers spending habits have to do with whether or not students can responsibly manage a fee of student dollars?” That question not withstanding, here’s the reason WHY the rec center has never spent within it’s allocated budget: The PFC has only ever allocated the rec center enough dollars to barely cover the cost of operations, not to the money needed to cover the cost of those pesky OUS mandated expenditures. In essence, they have only ever allocated the rec center just enough money to get shut down by the OUS. Bummer.
Another reason why a separate group cannot be trusted to spend responsibly comes from Senator Ebner, “The rec center’s budget will grow way too fast if there aren’t safeguards put in place to keep the growth rate low”(The quote is from memory and might not be 100% historically accurate. Tough shit). Well, too speak to this, one need look no further than our friendly neighborhood University Health Center. The SHAC, a group of students, allocate a fee to the health center and last I looked, aint no senators on that board. Yet, for some strange reason, the health center’s budget has not doubled and tripled, or grown exponentially over the years. What? Oh no, responsible spending!! And without the senate?!?!?! Just what is happening on this campus?!?!?!
I digress. The point is, there is clear evidence that students outside the senate are capable of managing an institutional fee, and that is evidence that the senate can ignore for only so long.
So, what then does it boil down to? The answer comes from an overpowering number of senators, and it sounds a little like this, “Once we give away control of the rec center, we don’t know what will happen…”. And therein lies the issue at heart, control. Can the ASUO senate turn control of a million dollar budget over to another group of students? That we don’t know. The issue of trusting other students has been put on the table in no less than two subsequent senate meetings and has failed to garner a vocal rebuttal from the senators. Do they truly believe that they are the only fiscally responsible students on campus? Only time will tell.
For more information or specific dates and bill numbers, feel free to leave a post and I’ll drop some more factoids on this blog.
By: Richard Pryor
