Student Union renovation plans may be stalled due to price hurdles

Thirty years of debt, a proposed $16 increase to a student fee and a $15.5 million price tag are just some of the hurdles facing a plan to renovate the Student Union.

And opposition from some University professors and student government members on the student fee advisory subcommittee has been added to that list.

At the committee’s meeting Friday, Tony Patterson, senior associate director of the Union, pitched a 19.8 percent increase in the Rec Center and Union debt fee, from $80.75 to $96.75.

The increase passed in Friday’s meeting on the condition that students get to vote on it.

It would help fund renovation of the Union, which includes expanding the ground floor and extending hours past 2 a.m.

“Carolina is not getting any smaller,” Patterson said.

But student leaders and administrators voiced opposition to the plan to Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Winston Crisp, the only administrator at the meeting to provide vocal support for the increase.

Student Body Treasurer Dakota Williams said he had seen five different presentations for the same project and that the majority of students are unaware of the plan.

“It stresses me to hear nobody knows about this,” Crisp said, adding that “legions” of students have been told about the project.

But Student Body President Hogan Medlin sided with Williams.

“If there are legions of students who know about this project, then there are 10 times that number who don’t,” he said.

Crisp said he might cancel the increase if he is not satisfied with the level of detail being provided to the student body.

Subcommittee members stressed that student awareness of the project’s specifics is key.

The proposal was rejected by the student fee audit committee, the first committee to evaluate fee increases, by a 3-8 vote, because of a lack of detail about the project.

The advisory subcommittee then passed it conditionally, and the fee could be an item on the 2011 student election ballot.

The plan

The proposed plan would be the second phase of renovation to the Union and would include an organic food venue, extra study spots and performance spaces, all partially funded by the fee increase. The first phase consists of bringing the building up to code and adding a Wendy’s, slated to open in 2012.

Phase two would make the ground floor home to the student innovation hub, part of the Innovate@Carolina program. The fee increase would help fund the capital costs of the innovation hub, said Christopher Payne, associate vice chancellor for student affairs.

Chelsea Miller, Student Congress finance chairwoman, stressed the project’s large scale and the importance of student awareness.

“The renovation of the Student Union is something that’s going to affect the next generation of Carolina,” Miller said.

If the fee is not passed, Payne said the University will involve students to find ways of how to utilize the space until it can be renovated.

Payne said a delay would most likely lead to additional costs because of current low prices of construction and the fact that designers are already employed for phase one of the project.

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.