02-09-95 Students to Vote on Union Building

OHIO STATE STUDENTS TO DECIDE OHIO UNION QUESTION

     COLUMBUS -- In a few weeks, students at The Ohio State
University will cast votes to determine whether to build a new
student union and pay for it by charging a fee to students
enrolled at the university when the facility opens.

     Voting will occur Feb. 27 through March 10 at seven sites
around the Columbus campus.  Students will cast ballots by
running their BuckIDs, an identification card containing a
magnetic strip, through a scanning device and pushing one button
for yes or another for no.

     At issue is whether to construct a $56 million facility on
the site of the existing union at 1739 N. High St.

     Students enrolled after the new facility is open would be
charged an additional quarterly fee earmarked for the union.  The
fee would be adjusted for inflation and would be the equivalent
of $54 in 1994 dollars for full-time students.  Part-time
students would pay a pro-rated amount.

     The fee would pay for about 80 percent of the project cost,
said Karl Stocker, chairperson of Students for Students, the
group responsible for educating students about the union project
and organizing the referendum.  The remainder of the money would
be raised from the university and from private donations and
vendor rental fees, said Stocker, a senior from Wooster majoring
in philosophy and psychology.

     The fee would include a fixed amount that will be used to
retire the debt on construction and a variable amount tied to
inflation that will be used to pay for operating costs.

     Mary Daniels, assistant vice president for student affairs,
said, "We feel the referendum is an opportunity for students to
express their opinion on the issue.  The university recognizes
that a project of this type merits students having an opportunity
to voice their opinion."

     While the Ohio Union was a state-of-the-art facility when it
was built in the 1950s, Ohio State now ranks near the bottom in
the Big Ten Conference in terms of union square footage per
student, said Brian Gath, a member of Students for Students and a
senior from Marietta, majoring in mechanical engineering.

     "If students support the referendum, the project will be
defined as it goes forward with heavy input by students," Daniels
said.  A new student group will be formed to decide what
facilities are needed.

     "If the students vote no on the issue, there is an
institutional issue that still remains -- we must deal with a
facility that has $12 million in infrastructure problems," she
said.

     Students for Students is maintaining a neutral position on
the issue.  The group is funded with a portion of university
monies set aside to conduct building studies.

     "We're making a concerted effort to meet with student
organizations," Gath said.  The student group is planning other
get-out-the-vote strategies including business signs, scoreboard
and Lantern newspaper advertisments, e-mail messages, video,
blackboard and bulletin board campaigns, and an information
hotline.

     Gath said he expects that the awareness campaign will lead
others to voice the pros and cons on the issue, which will help
fuel voter turnout.

     "We're trying to reach as many students as we can," Stocker
said.  "Hopefully, the more people who know about the issue, the
more who will take the 3 or 4 seconds necessary to vote."

     All undergraduate, graduate and professional students
enrolled on the Columbus campus are eligible to vote.  Ballots
will be cast at Baker Hall Commons, The Cellar behind Lord Hall,
Morrill Tower, North Area Commons, the Ohio Union, Larkins Hall,
and University Hospitals.

                                #

Contact:  Karl Stocker or Brian Gath at (614) 292-9153 (office)
or 262-4101 (home), or Mary Daniels, (614) 292-9334.


[Submitted by: REIDV  (reidv@ccgate.ucomm.ohio-state.edu)
               
Thu, 09 Feb 1995 11:24:37 -0500 (EST)]
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