The planned Rec Center for Troy University is making ground, slowly but surely.
In 2013, SGA passed a bill stating that students were to pay up to $125 per semester in order for the center to be built.
“If you look at other schools, like Auburn or Alabama, their students had to pay a fee for their Rec Center,” said SGA President Olivia Melton, a senior math and economics major from Orange Beach.
“It’s not odd.”
Melton added that the administration has been “great” through this process, taking into account the students’ feedback, saying, “it’s their building.”
Three years after the bill was passed, it went into effect this semester by incorporating a $100 student facility fee directly related to the building’s construction.
According to Melton, who was informed in a meeting with John Dew, senior vice chancellor of student services and administration, students are having to pay that fee now because the architecture company has already begun paying dividends.
If you are a student, however, you are not yet seeing where your money is going.
“I didn’t even know that we were paying the fee,” said Brittany Seagle, a junior elementary education major from Birmingham.
“I don’t think it’s fair that I’m paying for something I probably won’t get to use before I graduate.”
There are still several unknowns associated with the Rec Center.
Over the summer, John Dew met with Dean of Student Services Herbert Reeves. Dew was informed that they are still awaiting the architectural drawings before deciding what facilities will be in the Rec Center.
“They are most likely over-budget, so they have to see the drawings before they can decide what’s necessary and what’s unnecessary,” Melton said.
Among the facilities being talked about are basketball courts, showers and changing rooms, a fitness area, an indoor track and a swimming pool.
Since they are waiting on the drawings, they are unsure when the construction will actually begin.
According to Melton, it could start as soon as January or it could be later next semester.
Additionally, they are still uncertain about the location of the Rec Center.
While the original plan was to tear down Sartain Hall, the former sports arena, another option is to build the Rec Center beside Sartain.
“If they do end up building it in Sartain’s parking lot, the University will build an additional parking lot someplace else,” said Melton.
The concern is: will they take three years to start that project, too?
With parking already proving to be a major problem and the University’s goal being to reach 10,000 students (which is an increase of almost 3,000 students), they are considering eliminating an entire parking lot?
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