Months after approving the Recreational Sports Master Plan in March’s campus referendum, students are yet again being called upon by the Division of Rec Sports to help shape and create the facility renovations as an advisory group.
The Rec Sports Master Plan Subcommittee—comprised of students from Associated Students of Madison, Rec Sports facilities and those who use the facilities—will meet with members of the division throughout the year to hear renovation updates and provide a student voice in what the plan should be addressing.
“This committee is advisory in a sense, but at the same time it’s one of the main student connections to [the division] and I think we’re the point people for consultants in getting that student voice,” Subcommittee Chair Devon Maier said at a meeting Wednesday.
Mike Warren, senior associate director of Rec Sports, said the Board of Regents has established funding for the plan’s first renovation phase, which involved fixing the Near West Fields by the Natatorium. Current projections have these improvements completed by fall 2016.
The next steps have the division presenting preliminary financial plans for SERF renovations at this December’s Board of Regents meeting, then beginning design plans in the months to follow.
The hope, Warren said, is to use this subcommittee to maintain student involvement in the plan that directly affects student life and is funded largely by student fees.
“We’re really excited to finally get to have these meetings,” Warren said. “This is an exciting committee because it really is a direct feed into the student process, the student thoughts and trying to see those wants, those needs and try to connect it into actual design.”
