UNT mulls plans for new student union

by Jillian Daniels of of North Texas Daily

UNT is beginning the process of either creating a new University Union or expanding the existing one to support a campus population of 40,000 to 45,000 students, Union Director Tom Rufer said.

The University Union was originally built to serve 17,000 students. With UNT enrollment currently peaking at more than double that number, marketing senior Joey Allen said the difference in those two numbers is growing evident.

"It's really packed in there at lunchtime," Allen said. "You can tell they're trying to force a lot of people together in a small area."

The original Union opened in 1964 and was expanded in 1976 to its current size.

"The question is, how do we prepare ourselves to move forward as our campus grows?" Rufer said.

At the beginning stages of this process, Rufer said UNT is negotiating a contract and price for a company to draw up a program plan.

This would include surveying the current condition of the Union and determining if it meets current building codes while giving an idea of sizing for any new additions or a new Union itself.

"We don't know if the building can be added on to and correct the infrastructure that's there, or if we need to be looking at what needs to happen to tear down and rebuild," said Bonita Jacobs, vice president for student development. "We have so many unanswered questions, and this point is just an exploratory stage on what will be our course of action."

Jacobs said if the Union is rebuilt, it is unclear it would remain in its current location or be moved to a different site on campus.

Although Allen said he wouldn't mind the extra space, he would mind extra fees.

"I wonder how they're going to pay for it," Allen said. "If they're charging a student fee, I'm not very happy. But if they pay with grants and whatnot, then it'll be a great deal."

Currently, each student pays a dedicated Union fee of $47 per fall and spring semester. Jacobs said funding for the project would not come solely from student service fees. Students would have the opportunity to vote on any changes made to the Union fees amount prior to any modifications, Rufer said.

As no plans are yet absolute, Rufer said he was "very purposefully trying to leave this vague at this point" to hold out for a more accurate prediction on how the Union will look, what food service options it will hold and how much it will cost.

"The goal is at the end result of this exercise this will be a collaborative vision of this campus," Rufer said, "not just my vision or the Union staff vision."

To reach this collaborative vision, Rufer said he aims to start the campus involvement phase of the project in the early stages of the fall 2009 semester. This would entail campus interviews and surveys as well as general campus meetings.

"We are starting on a process that will be a very fun and exciting process for the campus," Rufer said. "It will take a large degree of student input to get to the right and final answer on that."