The Emporia Gazette

May 28, 2012

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Plans for an $18.5 million renovation of Emporia State University’s Memorial Union are almost complete, with students set to vote in April on a fee increase to pay for the project.

The process to get the renovation going has been a long one, said ESU president Michael Lane, with the first meeting about the project occurring in 1999. Still, the effort didn’t start in earnest until about a year and a half ago, he said.

“The most recent drive for renovation really started after I got here,” Lane said.

Since then, the campaign has moved forward rapidly. Last summer, ESU enlisted the help of an architectural firm in Lawrence to help with the plans. Treanor Architects is a firm with experience in designing college unions, and the group has held five vision sessions with ESU students and faculty to determine their needs and desires for the union.

Lane said last week the firm had just submitted the most recent set of concept designs, which are currently being adjusted. More accurate drawings, with square-footage and cost estimates, should be complete by the end of April or the start of May.

There will be at least two open meetings for students and community members to see what’s going on with the project. At the moment, students and members of the Associated Student Government are working on a referendum to adopt a new student fee that will finance the renovation. That vote will take place April 6, 7 and 8 during the ASG elections.

The new fee, if voted in, will raise student fees $50 this year and $25 each year for three succeeding years.

The university is also trying to raise money through donations.

“If we are able to raise money even after the project starts, we’ll be able to back off on the fees,” Lane said. “What we want to do is for every million dollars we raise, we’ll reduce that fee $10.”

Lane said the renovation project has gotten a lot of student support, especially from student leadership.

“The ASG and even the candidates for next year’s student body president and vice president support it,” Lane said.

The Memorial Union has a long and storied history on the ESU campus. Originally opened in 1925, the union was built as a tribute to the students who fought and died in World War I. Since then, the union has had four additions.

The current renovation plans aim to make the union into a “living room space” for ESU students, Lane said.

“I think it’s really critical to our current and future students,” Lane said. “It really is supposed to serve as a functional meeting place, a social place, a gathering place, an eating place for our students as well as our faculty and staff.”

Also, the building is dated, and needs critical upgrades in its heating, ventilation and cooling.

The renovation also looks to make the union a greener building.

“We want to upgrade the windows and lighting to make them environmentally friendly,” Lane said, “as well as more efficient heating and cooling that will be environmentally friendly. The finishes will be done with environmentally friendly materials as well. We want to make the building as green as we can as well as comfortable for our students, faculty and staff.”

In addition, the university is looking to move its admissions office to the union.

“(The union) will become the university’s front door,” Lane said, “and it needs to be attractive to current and prospective students.”

The project has been broken into two phases, with construction on Phase One scheduled to start in spring of 2010. The renovation should be finished by the start of the fall 2012 semester.