So, U students didn’t get the recreation center two years ago, they didn’t get it last year and now, this year, because of the aforementioned failures, we’re going to try to get it again. Only this time, there’s a twist: It isn’t a recreation center anymore-it’s a student life center.

During this month, a select group of students from the Associated Students of the University of Utah took a trip to Ohio State University, where they are privileged enough to have what most laypeople would know as a recreation center, but in Ohio State, they call it a student life center.

Is it a coincidence that we want to call it the same thing? Doubtful. But Ohio State has one of the best student life centers in the nation, so it’s no wonder that ASUU decided to take a cue from the school and change the name to something more fitting of the structure.

By changing the name, ASUU leaders are trying to illustrate not only to the Utah State Legislature, from which they need approval, but to everyone that what they want to build here is much more than a gym.

A recreation center-or student life center, or whatever anyone could possibly want to call it-is a place to play, study, eat, watch a basketball game, meet people and enjoy the life that college students were intended to have.

Commuter campus or not, students come to the U to be educated as well as learn how to function as a person in the normal world. The latter involves interaction with multitudes of strangers.

Imagine if people went in to work on a daily basis and didn’t talk to anyone, as students do in classes here at the U.

The student life center can be a very beneficial asset to this campus.

In addition to allowing current students to interact, it could attract new students who wouldn’t normally want to come to the U, thus enhancing the diversity that we need on our campus.

Without a doubt, there should be a student life center on this campus, and given the good faith effort that the student government and administration have put forth in research and securing donations, the U is deserving of the legislative approval it would require to build it.

A student life center is a benefit to any campus.

Hopefully this year, the Legislature will sign off and the U can solidify its status as a legitimate place that students where want to be.