The proposed $95 million Erb Memorial Union renovation may leap onto the state?s capital projects list for approval during this year?s legislative session, if the State Board of Higher Education gives the OK in a vote today.
If approved, students would pay an additional $67 per term beginning in fall 2014 ? and continuing for decades ? to service the debt on the project, according to the proposal.
The university also is proposing a $38 per term fee to pay for renovation of the student recreation center. That fee would begin this fall.
When the two project fees take effect, the cost of attending the UO would increase $105 per term, or $315 per year.
The board is scheduled to meet from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. today at its offices at Portland State University. The board is slated to decide whether to ask the governor to add the EMU project to the proposed capital projects list that the governor sends to the Legislature.
UO students approved the plan to renovate the student union building in a November vote, although only 4,000 of about 24,000 students on campus cast a ballot.
This week, a student is challenging the election before the Student Constitutional Court, but the higher education staff decided not to wait for the results of the challenge.
?It is not prudent to hold up an entire state board review process on the basis of a single student grievance,? according to the proposal before the board. ?If, for some reason, the vote is invalidated, there is still ample time for a second election given the fact that the student fees will not be voted on formally by the state board until June.?
The renovated building would include ?centers? for student government, student support groups and club sports. The multicultural center and 12 individual student unions ? from the Access/ABILITY Student Union to the Nontraditional Student Union ? would have prominent and expanded offices.
Other amenities include a computer lab, a 250-seat auditorium, expanded conference rooms, more food service and retail spaces ? and a three-story atrium and ?main street? for students to stroll, according to the proposal.
The project budget includes $73.3 million in state bonds, $10 million in student fee-backed bonds, $5 million in private gifts, $2.9 million in other student fees, $2.3 million in deferred maintenance bonds and $500,000 in other university cash.
The capital projects list is decided by the Legislature and Gov. John Kitzhaber, taking into account requests from state agencies.
Kitzhaber, in his proposed budget, calls for spending more than $1 billion on infrastructure projects, using much of the state?s newly available bonding capacity. His proposed capital budget includes almost $80 million to finish the Junction City psychiatric hospital; $450 million for Oregon?s share of the proposed Interstate 5 Columbia River Crossing between Portland and Vancouver, Wash.; and funding dedicated to road, marine, rail and airport improvements.
The governor?s office plans to update its proposed capital budget list later this month before presenting it to the Legislature, said Jay Kenton, vice chancellor of finance for the Oregon University System. Kenton said he hopes Kitzhaber?s office will add the EMU project to the list, provided that the board approves it today.
State Board
of Higher Education
Find the board?s agendas and other materials at: www.ous.edu/state_board/meeting
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rgnews/~3/uTTxl9NoJxw/student-board-state-million-project.html.csp
kim zolciak travis pastrana quinton coples a.j. jenkins riley reiff david decastro aj jenkins
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