Funding allocated for gyms
University also to grant money for block party, music school facilities
By Dan Strumpf
The Daily Northwestern
Northwestern administrators will allocate $125,000 to replace equipment at two campus gyms next school year, administrators told a student budget committee Tuesday.
The money for new cardiovascular and strength training equipment at the Blomquist Recreation Center and Sports Pavilion and Aquatics Center is one of four student objectives that will receive funding next year.
The Undergraduate Budget Priorities Committee, a group of students who send budget requests to the university, gave administrators 10 recommendations for areas that should receive money based on student demand.
The funding approval for gym equipment could jump-start a broader plan to overhaul fitness facilities at NU, University Provost Lawrence Dumas and Vice President for Business and Finance Eugene Sunshine wrote in an e-mail to UBPC.
“It was a tough budget year for us,” said Tamara Kagel, a member of the committee and former Associated Student Government student services vice president. “We considered that a lot in preparing our proposals and it seemed they were well-received.”
Administrators also approved funding for three other proposals put forth by UBPC, including $100,000 for improvements to School of Music buildings, $15,000 annually for a “block party” event at the end of New Student Week and $10,000 to furnish a study area in the University Library if students demonstrate interest.
The $100,000 allotted to the School of Music will be used for facility improvements in Regenstein Hall and the Music Administration Building, administrators told the committee.
Music administrators will consult with students and faculty in the next month to decide which projects at Regenstein and MAB will receive the funding, music officials said Wednesday.
“The projects will reflect some of the requests from the UBPC, such as classroom chairs, instrument lockers or additional transportable improvements,” Dumas and Sunshine wrote in the e-mail to UBPC.
Administrators also approved the allocation of $15,000 annually for a “block party” following New Student Week in September.
Kagel, a Communication senior, said UBPC had raised the block party proposal for several years but it never received funding until now.
Dumas and Sunshine wrote that a plan for the event — which could include a campus-wide picnic, music, entertainment and vendors on University Place — must be submitted to the Office of Student Affairs before any funds are disbursed.
The event will take place annually for three years on a trial basis and could become permanent based on its success, according to the e-mail.
Jim Schuchart, president of the Northwestern Class Alliance, said the block party will bring together many campus organizations, fostering community among NU students. The group lobbied with UBPC for the event.
“We’re here to try and build community, and a lot of that can be best done with social programming like this sort of event,” said Schuchart, a Weinberg junior.
Responding to a UBPC request for a more comfortable studying environment in the library, Dumas wrote that the university would provide funding for study nooks only if students demonstrated sufficient demand for them.
Administrators said they could not accommodate some recommendations because of their cost and desirability — including subsidizing NU apparel for new students and earlier dorm availability before Winter and Spring Quarters.
The e-mail also did not address the UBPC proposal to provide a full day off from classes on Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Day. Currently students receive only a three-hour break from classes on the holiday.
“I think that’s a problem,” Kagel said. “I think it at least merits a response.”
Other proposals suggested by the group will be further discussed by administrators.
