If the University of Utah forked up the cash to conduct a campus wide survey on student concerns, what would sit at the top the list? Parking, tuition, the cost of textbooks, maybe the quality of education or the lack of campus community.

What? Recreation isn?t on this list?

How can that be after the Associated Students of the University of Utah put so much effort into plans for a new student recreation center last year?

Well, the answer to this question is fairly obvious?while many students believe recreation is important, not too many rate it high on their list of concerns.

The U?s administration, and the new student government for that matter, are rightly following suit.

Both say they are waiting for a donor to pitch in $10 million for the project before they start any sort of groundbreaking.

The center, roughly 122,000 square feet in size, would cost $19 million to construct. It would include an indoor track, sport courts, a juice bar and a cyber cafe.

Vice President for Student Affairs Barbara Snyder even said that the rec center isn?t that high on the administration?s fund raising priority list.

Rightly so, administrators have identified scholarships as their main fund-raising thrust.

Last year?s ASUU administration, led by President Jess Dalton and Vice President Emilie Decker, formed a coalition of student groups, which included Greek Row and the Residence Halls Association, as they lobbied for a new rec center.

These associations put together a spiffy PowerPoint presentation that tried to persuade students that the U could not continue without new basketball courts and a climbing wall.

After short presentations to other student entities, the presenters asked what the audience thought. Then they combined this information with informal polls of students at athletic events and those who use the already existing recreation centers at the HPER complex and the Field House?two places where students who want additional recreation facilities would be much easier to locate. The student government tried to turn over this information to the administration and call it a valid sample of student opinion.

Finally, they solicited the opinion of the Student Senate and General Assembly. These two entities are designed to represent the student body, and they include members from each of the 16 academic colleges.

The General Assembly glossed over the proposal before voting overwhelmingly in favor of the rec center. The Senate, on the other hand, debated earnestly about the need for a new center and the effect of raising student fees before voting in favor of the rec center 10 to 5.

While few actually mistake the Senate for a representative body, at least its members debated the measure. The current Senior Class President AnnMarie Allen, who at the time was a student senator, even told the Senate that their vote does not represent the opinions of the campus at large.

Current ASUU President Ben Lowe also holds this opinion.

He said that if administrators located a donor, he would want to conduct another survey to find out if the students truly are willing to incur a fee increase for a new rec center.

This time the survey wouldn?t be conducted by rec-center supporters at locations like the men?s basketball games or outside of the Field House. Lowe said he would hire an outside polling group to conduct a professional survey.

Really, no survey is needed. Compared with the other needs of students, a rec center isn?t worth the effort.

Students are not clamoring for another place to drink juice, play on a computer or run a lap. Most have off-campus jobs, off-campus families and off-campus housing. Why would they want to come back to campus to exercise?

Those who workout regularly are already members of a gym near their house. If the campus was clamoring for a new rec center, the Field House would be overflowing with students, but as it is now, it is overflowing with alumni, faculty and staff.

The existing rec centers do need some improvements?air conditioning in the Field House would be nice?however, ASUU has failed to demonstrate a definite need for a 122,000 square foot facility, especially in light of the more pressing issues that students are concerned about.

When one looks at the amount of frustration generated by the cost of parking and the lack of parking stalls, it becomes fairly obvious that students would like to see something done in that arena.

Lowe and his administration say they are working on a slew of parking initiatives. ASUU has yet to announce exactly what the initiatives entail.

Lowe says students will need to take a measured and patient approach to the problems instead of just clamoring for a parking structure.

Well, if students really want it, the funds they would have dished out to a rec center would more than cover the costs of a structure.

A parking structure with 600 stalls would cost about $7 million to build.

The fee increase for the proposed rec center would cost students an additional $30 per year, adding up to $9 million for the project.

While Lowe needs to take a level-headed and multi-faceted approach, students should continue to clamor for a parking structure or anything else that they believe will improve the atmosphere on campus.

Parking already costs students too much money, but ASUU and the administration would spend student fees much more wisely if they took that $30 and built a parking structure than if they took it to build a rec center.

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