K-Staters,
This Friday, the Chester E. Peters Recreation Complex will officially open its doors, and we’re going to celebrate! On behalf of K-State Student Governing Association, I’d like to invite you to the Grand Opening of the newly renovated building from 3-5 PM on September 27. The event will feature free food, give-a-ways (including a bicycle), a brief program, and tours of the completed facility.
The Rec Complex is a prime example of an entity on campus funded by students through your Privilege Fee dollars each semester. As you may know, Privilege Fee dollars are paid by all students at K-State – currently $377 per semester for a full-time student, totaling $14.5 million per year from the student body. Privilege Fee dollars go to a number of entities: the Student Union, Lafene Health Center, K-State KSDB Radio Station, Student Publications, K-State Athletics, and the Office of Student Activities and Services to name a few. SGA’s Privilege Fee Committee, chaired this year by College of Business Senator Ryan Patterson, reviews each entity every three years and makes a recommendation, which must be approved by Student Senate and signed by the Student Body President before it goes into effect.
The recently completed renovation of the Rec Complex too was a student-funded project. Those of you on campus last Spring may remember the referendum vote that occurred in April that approved a $25 million renovation of the Student Union, now in the beginning planning stages. Back in 2007, a similar referendum vote took place and was approved for a $23 million renovation of the Rec, and that’s what we’ll be celebrating on Friday. The improved building will be an incredible asset to K-State for years to come, featuring a rock wall, convenience store area, greatly enlarged cardio and weight-lifting areas, and much more.
Major renovation projects like the Rec and the Student Union make K-State unique. Here, students have the first and final say in all building projects that their Privilege Fee dollars will go toward, enhancing campus for future students in the spirit of family and “paying it forward” that has defined our student body in the past. It’s my hope that it always will.
See you on Friday!
Eli Schooley