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THE BG NEWS ESTABLISHED 1920 | A daily independent student press serving the campus and surrounding community
STROH Friday, March 27, 2009
Volume 103, Issue 125
TIME For today only, it’s showtime for the referendum on USG’s Stroh Center resolution Undergrads have a chance to make University history
Stroh Center to be constructed as greenfriendly building
Graduate students too busy for concerns over Stroh Center
By Andy Ouriel Reporter
By Michelle Bosserman Reporter
By Hannah Sparling Reporter
Today, students have the chance to make history by voting to either keep or repeal the Undergraduate Student Government’s original resolution on the Stroh Center. According to University historian Gary Hess, who has chronicled important University moments in history, said there has never been a student vote on an issue as important as this one. While the vote is strictly about USG’s original decision to approve the Stroh Center, most students are concerned
While many University students are focused on the possible implementation of a $60 student fee for the construction of the Stroh Center, University project manager Michael Schuessler is focused on making sure the Stroh Center will be energy efficient. “We need to save money and have it be energy efficient at the same time,” Schuessler said. “The budget has been the real driver.” The Stroh Center design team is the architectural firm Rossetti Associates Inc.
Today, students have an opportunity to make their voice heard through the Stroh Center referendum. But the referendum voice does not represent all students; graduate students don’t get a vote. The Stroh Center referendum is for undergraduate students only. But while grad students do not get to vote, they will still have to pay the same fee that applies to undergrads. Graduate Student Senate President Emmanual Guillory said grad students don’t get a
See VOTE | Page 2
See ENERGY | Page 2
See GRADS | Page 2
www.bgviews.com
DOWN TO BUSINESS:
STROH CENTER TIME LINE The Stroh Center isn’t slated to open until the fall of 2011, but plans have been in motion since 2003.
FEB 23, 2009 VOTE: USG votes in favor of the Stroh Center, including assessing a $60 general fee all students will have to pay to help fund $23.1 of the $36 million total cost of the arena and parking improvements
MARCH 2, 2009 VOTE: The University’s Board of Trustees approve Stroh Center
2003 IN MOTION: State capital approves future funding for the proposed convoction center/new arena
MARCH 5, 2009
DECEMBER 2007
VOTE: Coalition rallies for a referendum; the group, which is neither for nor against the Stroh Center, collected 1,262 signatures, or 9.2 percent of undergraduates through a petition in one day
VOTE: Convocation center part of the $150 million capital-improvement effort throughout campus
FEB 29, 2008 NAMESAKE: Board of Trustees names the arena the “Stroh Center” after Kerm Stroh
MARCH 1, 2008 VOTE: Official announcement of the Stroh Family’s $8 million gift. $7.7 million going toward the Stroh Center, $200,000 for intercollegiate athletics and $100,000 for the Stroh Family Endowed Scholarship
OCTOBER 2008 VOTE: An additional $4.8 million was donated; plans to build the largest Falcon statue in the world were announced; administrators started promoting the Stroh Center to student organizations
DEC 3, 2008 VOTE: University unveils design of the Stroh Center
FEB 19, 2009 VOTE: The Coalition for Undergraduate Student Government Reform forms due to the group’s discontent toward USG actions
MARCH 6, 2009 VOTE: USG verified the petition and started working on a new resolution for an undergraduate referendum
MARCH 20, 2009 VOTE: The new resolution is finalized and a referendum date is finalized
MARCH 25, 2009 VOTE: Administration and USG President John Waynick answer questions posed by students at a coaltion sponsored town-hall meeting
MARCH 27, 2009 VOTE: The referendum takes place within a 24-hour period deciding on whether or not to keep USG’s original resolution; as long as 10 percent of undergraduates log in and vote through their MyBGSU accounts, whichever choice gets more votes will stand
FALL 2011 VOTE: The opening of the Stroh Center, which will host up to 250 events — COMPILED BY ANDY OURIEL FROM THE BG NEWS ARCHIVES
BUILDING BLOCKS: THE STROH CENTER BY THE NUMBERS
36
million
Total cost of the Stroh Center
23.1
million
Amount needed from students to fund the building (if original resolution is upheld)
7.7
million
Amount of money donated by the Strohs
4300 1262 24
Approximate amount spent by the University on Pro Stroh advertising and information
Amount of signatures obtained by the coalition
Number of hours students will have to vote on the referendum
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