The university wants to start gathering student input on the recreation center expansion because the building is expected to be finished a year earlier than planned.
The Indiana State Legislature approved the new timeline right before the session closed for the year.
Despite it being a non-budgetary year, Tom Morrison, associate vice president for human resources and state relations, managed to attach the proposal to House Bill 1029, authored by District 89 house representative Larry Buell.
The bill was originally about college savings accounts but was amended into a broad education bill, Morrison said.
Both houses supported the proposal in conference committee, he said. Besides the need for recreation space in comparison with other facilities, Morrison said the legislation from Student Government Association helped gain support for the vote.
"The students through Student Government Association had expressed interest in the project and number of student organization signed in support," Morrison said.
The approval moved the project time frame up, with completion possible in summer of 2010. Comparisons, research and conceptual designs have already been done.
"One gym is not like all others," Tom Kinghorn, vice president of Business Affairs, said. "What we are going to do is take the best we found at other places and incorporate those into our design."
Possible new facilities include a recreational pool, climbing wall, outdoor pursuits area where students could rent things such as camping equipment, performance rooms for activities such as pilates and a juice/health food bar.
SGA President Asher Lisec said the organization would help with student input.
"Our job now that we have approval is to find out exactly what the students want," she said. "The administration is still looking for ideas of what to put into the rec center. Just because we have the basic idea for the building doesn't mean we know what to put inside."
Forums are one option for gathering ideas, Kinghorn said, but the most direct method for students to give input was to go to recreational center staff. Staff members work with students on a daily basis and are familiar with student and recreation center needs.
The expansion comes at a good time considering a university focus on healthy living because of the increasing health care costs, Interim Provost Deborah Balogh said.
"One way to address the issue of rising costs is to have a campus wellness plan in which all members of the campus community have more opportunity to develop better health habits, including regular exercise," she said.
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