Legacy

During the 10 a.m. drive to campus, Tuesday’s KLSU playlist is regularly interrupted with updates on the parking situation. “Lots on South and West Stadium are full,” the DJ advises. “So you might want to park somewhere else.”

Trucks circle the lanes like starving vultures looking for fresh carrion. As they stop at the end of each lane, the drivers fiddle with their turn signals. The closest spot is beside the marching band’s practice field, but who wants to park there when someone might leave at any minute? It’s a familiar — and maddening — scene for any student who’s ever tried to score a parking spot after 9 a.m.

In a recent Daily Reveille video report, some students suggested where they would like to see more of their money spent. “I say use [money] on parking,” mechanical engineering freshman Darius Bruce said. “We really don’t have enough parking spaces. It gets kind of annoying when you really can’t find a spot.”

Around 5 p.m. on a Wednesday night, the REC is so crowded it seems to corral a small country. There’s a line of sweat-drenched students, waiting for a performance-enhancing smoothie. Another line of students browse through their i-Pods or watch the evening’s sports highlights while waiting to use an elliptical machine. Benchwarmers sit against rubber pads, awaiting their turn in a pick-up basketball game.

UREC director Tamara Jarrett estimated around 2,100 students visit University Recreation Monday through Thursday between 4 and 9 p.m. It’s UREC’s “busiest time.”

Forever LSU, the “most ambitious fund-raising campaign in school history,” started with former Chancellor Sean O’Keefe and was brought into effect to make LSU the “flagship” campus (in other words, the leading comprehensive public research university). To attain that status, facilities such as University Parking and Transportation, University Recreation, the Union and Student Health Center will be up for a fee evaluation at the end of this year.

“Everybody wants a fee increase,” Student Government President Colorado Robertson told me. “The technology department wants a fee increase, the University wants a tuition increase. Everybody wants more money, but prioritizing is something we definitely have to do.”

If the campus wants to hoist a Forever LSU banner next to the high-flying American flag on the Parade Grounds, then Parking and Transportation, UREC and others must get a fee increase, according to their directors. But how much will the fee increase and when? This question leaves some administrators, like Gary Graham, shrugging their shoulders and feigning laughter.

Graham has been the director of parking and transportation for the last 27 years. He said LSU’s students have transformed from party-goers to self-conscious scholars. One thing hasn’t changed: the campus still has no parking garages.

“In 1968, the [administration] was looking to build parking garages [across the campus],” Graham said. Fast-forward 40 years; according to Graham, some colleges around the nation have up to seven parking garages. “We’re probably the only major university that doesn’t have one.”

To build these garages, the parking and transportation fee would need to increase from the current $39 per school year to $100 (that cost includes the amount paid for a parking permit and the fee money used towards the mass transit system.) The idea for this fee increase came in 2003. Chancellor Mark Emmert developed a master plan dealing with the building of new garages and parking lots and the development of “Easy Streets.” The fee money is currently used towards paying off bonds on newly repainted parking lots among other things.

Students have been annoyed with more than just the parking situation. “There’s been some unhappiness with the quality of service from the bus system,” Graham said. “Students want normal things like buses on time, courteous drivers and extended service. They also want stuff like GPS capabilities for their phones so they can see when the next bus is coming.”

For the last item on that wish list, a fee increase would most likely need to be granted. But by how much? “We don’t know,” Graham said. “Until the companies that bid on the project come back with a price, we can’t say.”

Though Graham couldn’t speculate on how much fees would increase with implementing a new bus system, he did give an estimate for the cost of building one parking garage: around $24 million. A staggering amount, especially considering Chancellor Emmert’s master plan, which called for eight garages.

Like parking and transportation, UREC’s problems have multiplied. If UREC wants to survive the next two years, director Tamara Jarrett said she’s in dire need of a fee increase. Jarrett said UREC is “kicking and paddling just to stay afloat.”

“This was the year I told the Fee Committee ‘Listen, come on,’” Jarrett said plaintively. “‘This moment is absolutely enormous. The folks working with numbers have an emergency on their hands.’”

For the tuition-paying student, $45 each semester will get you the almost-full-treatment plan at the UREC. You can play basketball, lift weights or play tennis on the newly-painted purple and gold outdoor courts.

That fee has been stagnant for seven years. Compared to national peers such as the University of Alabama and Ohio State University, UREC’s $45 is only marginally higher than the bottom five and well below the national average (see sidebar).

On the state level, UREC’s per semester fee is in the bottom five, below Nicholls State, Northwestern State, Tulane and Louisiana Tech. Those with fees lower than UREC’s — University of Louisiana-Lafayette, University of New Orleans and Grambling State University — are waiting for increases to be implemented, according to UREC’s associate director Melissa Longino.

Refinancing the facilities has forced UREC to pay off the remainder of the building’s loans in just two years rather than over time. As the fee remains $45, the UREC continues to sink into the red financially. In other words, if UREC doesn’t get a fee increase, within a year, it will be $1.5 million in debt.

A barren REC center — the upstairs track and weight rooms devoid of students — was the scene that welcomed me when I visited UREC’s administration offices for an interview over the winter break. It was a rare sight for one of the most overcrowded buildings on campus. UREC allocates four square feet per student — three square feet less than the state average, five feet less than the national peer average.

We’ve got National Champions in football, gymnastics, baseball and track. Yet, by fee and square-footage standards, we have one of the worst recreational facilities not only in the state, but also the nation.

The $45 fee barely covers UREC maintenance and upkeep. It also makes paying the student staff problematic.

Jarrett said UREC has had to leave positions vacant and ask students to pick up more jobs at the facility. The flagship state university has a recreational service asking some students to work up to 60 hours a week.

It’s a sad truth for Jarrett, who feels bad telling her staff, “‘Thank you for doing your job. Your reward is to continue to bust your ass.’”

However, she can boast about what she has accomplished: opening the Sport and Adventure Complex, eliminating fees for group exercise classes and implementing online exercise classes.

“Whether the students realize it or not, 86 percent of the campus uses UREC in some form,” Jarrett said. “That’s damn good, but we want 100 percent!”

What’s not helping Jarrett are the lack of funds, the space limitations and the fact that many students are members of other gyms such as Bally Total Fitness. If UREC wants to stay afloat, it has to operate like a business. “But it’s not a business, it’s a service,” she explained.

“It’s a mission. Our job is simply to help other people have a better life,” Jarrett said. But the mission is hard when she’s “building capital on quicksand.”

So who decides when these facilities at a “flagship” university will get a fee increase? Also, who decides how much students will have to pay?

Robertson said he understands the frustration of students who believe they’re paying too much money. “Fees are bad. That is the perception of any and every student. It’s more money out of our pockets,” he said. “But I will tell you that we have urged the University and believe the University is spending our money in the best way possible.”

For facilities on campus in need of an increase to maintain services, the Student Required Fee Advisory Committee flies in to (hopefully) save the day. To acquire more funds, the fee must pass through the committee, then to the powers that be, i.e. the Chancellor.

The committee was founded in 2006. Heath Price, director of Finance and Administration for Student Life, said it was established to look at four major entities on campus: Parking and Transportation, UREC, the Student Health Center and the Union.

“Our goal is not to increase fees, but to look at what these entities’ budgets are or are not prepared for,” Price said. “We’re looking to see if their budgets serve the everyday operating costs to maintain that facility.”

The committee’s staff includes 10 people — five administrators and five students. This group looks at all the facilities’ numbers then decides what amount of money will help that facility maintain its operations.

“So many factors go into the process,” Price said. “We have to look at additional services, recent changes and other expenses.” Since the committee is relatively young, Price added, “Time hasn’t played out for us to get in the right order.”

Given that the committee is two years old, getting needed money can be exasperating. Each year, the committee has a new set of people ready to serve, but who don’t know much about the current state of the entities. In short, 10 people decide what amount students will pay for the four important facilities on campus. Before getting into any discussion, they must sit through hours of PowerPoint presentations and number crunching. It’s a process where the saying “time is money” is irrelevant.

Price said the committee continues analysis until the “bull’s eye number is reached.” Otherwise, “no fee goes forward.”

Even Ben Clark, LSU Senate Speaker and member of the committee, admits the process is flawed. When I asked if average students should get more involved in the process, Clark sighed.

“Definitely, but you can only offer it so many times,” Clark said, mentioning the committee often advertises for more student involvement. “It’s up to the people. If a student feels passionately about the fees, it’s up to them to be motivated, get involved and do the work.”