After years of planning, recreation center to open

Money for the center came from private sources; student fees will keep it open.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
IT WAS THE STUDENTS' IDEA to build a recreation center at Youngstown State University, and students played a major role in designing the finished product that opens for their use Monday.
The architect on the $12.1 million Andrews Student Recreation and Wellness Center involved student representatives every step of the way, meeting with them every Tuesday for two years as the design took shape, said Jack Rigney, director of campus recreation and intramural sports.
The students even did the planning for the locker rooms, he said.
The planning actually started 10 years ago when a group of YSU students began pushing for a new recreation facility, said Dr. David C. Sweet, YSU president.
Five years after that, students approached him about the idea when he first came to campus in 2000, Sweet said.
Funding
Sweet spearheaded the fund raising for the center.
The board of trustees looked at the project in 2002 and decided that, at a time of ever-rising tuition, the university should ask the community to support the construction but have the students pay for the on-going operating costs, he said.
"We're the only public university that's gone this route," Sweet said, as he led a media tour of the center Thursday.
"It's always a challenge raising funds, but we've got a lot of great supporters," he said.
Nearly 600 individuals, corporations and foundations donated $12.14 million for the 67,500-square-foot center. Andrews Trust was the top contributor at $2 million. Other large gifts included $1.5 million from John and Denise DeBartolo York, $1 million from the Beecher Foundations, $750,000 from Tony and Mary Lariccia, $600,000 from the Kresge Foundation and $500,000 from D.D. and Velma Davis.
All full-time students will pay a mandatory $48 per semester fee to fund the ongoing operations costs. Part-time students must pay $4 per credit hour. There will be no extra charge for use of the facility over the summer.
Students won't be hit with any extra fees for any programming offered at the center, Rigney said.
Faculty and staff wishing to use the center will be charged a $100 annual fee. It will not be open to the general public.
Recruitment tool
Sweet said the university found that, though parents might want their children to take a look at the chemistry lab when they visit a college campus, the young people want to know where the recreation center is.
This center will be a great recruitment tool, he predicted.
"This is a student facility," Sweet stressed, noting that no one, including student athletes, will have priority use of the center equipment.
The center will employ five full-time staff and 130 students. It will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and from noon to 8 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays during the regular school year. Summer hours will be shorter, Rigney said.
Specific recreational and health programming will be based on student interest.
The center will be dedicated during a ceremony at 2 p.m. Sunday.
gwin@vindy.com