Rec Center defeated again

David Sommers
The State Hornet
Published November 17, 1999

For the second time in less than a year the students of CSUS have voted down a multi-million dollar plan to construct a recreation center on campus.

With a shaky hand ASI Executive Director Carol Ackerson announced the results to a crowd of about 40 students at 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

"The Rec Center has been defeated again," Ackerson said. "1222 yes. 2803 no."

After recounting nearly 200 additional ballots the final outcome stood at 30.4 percent for the Rec Center and 69.6 percent against.

A total of 4025 students voted in the two-day special election. The Rec Center was also defeated in during the general election in April, 57.3 percent to 42.7 percent.

"Maybe the fee was too high," said ASI President Geoff Sakala.

Ackerson speculated that the issue of the Rec Center would come back again in the near future.

"Campus life is growing dramatically on this campus and the Rec Center would be a positive step for adding more campus life," said Ackerson. "Maybe students aren’t ready for that next step just yet."

Despite the loss, Sakala remained pleased with the work put into the project.

"Everyone involved in the Student Referendum Committee and all the students that participated in the campaign did a great job," said Sakala.

In preparation for the Rec Center vote CSUS administration allocated $50,000 to have a facilities planning company survey the campus in an effort to gauge support for the project.

The results of that survey showed that 59 percent (+/- 5 percent) supported a $100 per semester fee for a recreation center.

"The survey was still well worth the money," said Sakala. "Regardless of how the election goes the survey raised awareness of the project."

Sakala and Ackerson agree that the Rec Center will some day be back.

"With some campuses that have recreation centers it took multiple elections to get the project passed. The same might be the case for us," said Ackerson.

"It may be a lot of money," said Sakala. "But the issue of the Rec Center is not going away."