With the start of a new year, the ASUO will once again focus on how to make renovations to the EMU and Student Recreation Center more affordable.
Last term, students rejected the renovation projects, so it is up to the ASUO to produce a more student-friendly plan.
“Students want a more affordable project, a more transparent project and a more student-centered project,” ASUO president Ben Eckstein said.
The ASUO created both SRC and EMU steering committees and have stated they are willing to continue to work closely with administrators to ensure power is in students’ hands.
“We are ready to come to the table with Student Affairs to make sure that happens,” Eckstein said.
The University is not the only school trying to make a change.
Our neighbors to the north at the University of Washington are already moving forward with renovations to their student union, known as the Husky Union Building or the HUB@@http://www.facebook.com/hub.uw@@. According to Lincoln Johnson, the director of the building, this will be the first overall renovation to the building since 1949.@@facebook link@@
The project will cost $82.7 million, and students will pay a yearly fee of about $274 starting in the fall of 2012.@@http://crosscut.com/2010/04/09/university-washington/19732/U-Dub-s-HUB-will-be-shutting-down-for-two-years/ AND http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/education/2009253999_uwhub23m0.html@@
“Students and student leaders have been integrally involved in the entire process since discussions started in 2005,” Johnson said. “We actively worked with ASUW, GPSS, student regent, student fee committee, residence life leaders, Greek leaders and faculty leadership.”
This is all in addition to three building committees that consist of 12-15 students, two staff members and two faculty members. All of these groups have been collaborating since 2005 to renovate the HUB.
The 266,000 square foot building houses two student governments, and office space for 50 student organizations.@@info. gotten through interview@@

The Beavers at OSU are also planning on renovation. They are creating an entirely new building called the Student Experience Center, or SEC.@@http://mu.oregonstate.edu/studentexperiencecenter/@@Their student union, the Memorial Union, is the smallest in the Pac-12@@http://tinyurl.com/7lkj7fb@@. In light of this, students voted in 2010 to renovate one wing of the MU and build the SEC.
This building will be placed directly next to the Memorial Union and will allocate more space for student organizations. At the moment, however, the project is still in the early planning phases with three committees working alongside architects to finalize ideas for the three-story building.
The project is currently awaiting approval of bonds by the state legislature to help construct the building and will reconvene in February to look over the issue. If the bonds are approved, students will pay $45 a term to assist in the construction. When the project was first proposed, that fee was set at $110 a term, but an outcry from students led committees to find an alternative funding model with a lower cost for students.