New university recreation facility proposed

The graduate student society’s referendum campaign committee presented a $72-million proposal to build a new recreation facility for students and faculty at the University of Windsor this Wednesday.

Located in Room 100 of the Anthony P. Toldo Health Education Centre, the presentation allowed attendees to learn about the new Lancer Recreation Student Centre. The presentation highlighted the project’s cost and why University of Windsor students need this type of facility at their school.

“I want this built,” said Austin Roth, who led out the presentation. “I’ve been at this university now for seven years and I was told about a proposed building five years ago. I will never get to see the building. I won’t even use it. I know that if students knew how important this was to the university, they’d get behind it.”

Although a proposal was made a year ago for the building’s approval, students voted against additional student fees to fund the Lancer Recreation Student Centre project. A year later, the project is back on the table with additional support from Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment president Richard Peddie.

“It’s absolutely critical,” said Peddie. “It’s a $70-million project that will dramatically enhance the recreational and athletic facilities for the varsity teams and for the 10,000 students that use it for fitness and health.”

Peddie, a Windsor native and University of Windsor alumni, spoke in support of the new Lancer Recreation Student Centre. He offered to contribute $150,000 dollars to the project if approved by Friday Nov. 25.

“I said I’d give $100,000 dollars,” said Peddie. “But somewhere along the way I got caught up in the enthusiasm and increased it to $150,000 dollars.”

Although some students might not agree with the additional student fees to build the new centre, University of Windsor graduate student Ivona Bilbilovska spoke in support of the proposal. She saw this presentation as a great way to inform students of what they’re getting in return.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t get to hear from the no-side,” said Bilbilovska. “What we wanted was that dialogue. We wanted to hear the concern of the no-side and to be able to explain to students and inform them as to what great benefits the project has and get them to come out and vote next week.”

The referendum will take place on Nov. 23 and 24 and a decision will be made on Nov. 25.