SGA Senate passes resolution to oppose possible sale of SAC fitness center, expansion

By Baylee Pulliam–

The future of the Swain Student Activities Center is a bit dubious at the moment.

At Tuesday night’s Student Government Association Senate meeting, SGA President Kurtis Frizzell unveiled one of several potential plans authored by the University of Louisville that could alter the building’s layout and shuffle student facilities. It calls for the sale of the 24,000 square feet now used as the gyms and student fitness center for $2 million to the Athletics department.

According to Executive Senior Associate Athletic Director Kevin Miller, the Athletics department has not made a formal bid for the property. He said if Athletics were to buy the space, it would be used for summer camps, and for the U of L pep band, cheerleaders and dance team, who currently practice off-campus.

The money from selling the SAC gyms to Athletics would go to finance an $11.5 million expansion to the rest of the SAC for new student meeting space. Some of the remaining funding would come from the university’s housing reserves, which helps to repair housing facilities in an emergency.

According to Vice President of Student Affairs Tom Jackson, the plan is “only one of several scenarios” in a four-year discussion on possible improvements to the SAC.

After over two hours of debate, the SGA Senators voted unanimously to oppose plan to sell the fitness space and expand.

In a resolution authored during the meeting by Speaker Paul Mick, the Senate deemed the financial terms of the fitness center’s sale inequitable to students.

The $2 million Athletics would pay for the fitness center equates to about $83 per square foot. According to the resolution, an expansion would cost somewhere between $130 to $269 per square foot in today’s market.

Such a small price tag is a “slap in the face,” Frizzell said.

Jackson said $2 million was more of a ballpark figure, and that “in this economy an expansion would be very expensive. We’ve had to get creative in figuring out how to fund it.”

The Senate said Athletics would need to pay an additional $5 million offset the costs. That number accounts for $1.5 million to furnish the new space, $1 million for renovations and $2.5 million to replenish the housing reserve fund.

The Senate also strongly opposed the use of housing reserves to fund an expansion. Using it for purposes other than to insure dorm space is “tantamount to gambling with the future of housing on campus, and is completely unacceptable,” it said.

The resolution says further that the purchase of the gyms by athletics would deprive students of a “valuable cohesive space for student organizations and events to utilize.”

“This is a student activities center, not a student athletics center,” Frizzell said. “This space should be ours.”

In response to the SGA resolution, Miller said “if SGA has a problem with [selling the space to Athletics], they can keep it.”

In their resolution, the Senate advocates an alternative plan where rather than selling the fitness area, it would be renovated. The 50,000 square feet of renovated space would come with a price tag of $9.4 million, funded through an $8.2 million bond paid for by the student activities fee and $1.2 million in reserves.

Director of Student Activities Tim Moore said “no floor plan will be drafted” for any plan until the university makes its final decision.

According to U of L President James Ramsey, that decision could be a while coming.

“Let me be clear – no decisions have been made on the future of the Student Activities Center,” said Ramsey. “Discussions will continue and will ultimately lead to a solution that’s in the best interests of the University of Louisville.”