Editorial
Van Galen's proposed Falcon Center segregated fee is reasonable
February 11, 2015
Student Senate will be voting on Tuesday, Feb. 17, on Chancellor Dean Van Galen’s proposal to implement a $175 segregated fee, per student, for the 2015-16 academic year for the staffing, equipping and maintaining of the future Falcon Center.
The fee would then increase to $200, per student, for future academic years. It's important to note that the proposed $175 segregated fee is unrelated to the proposed UW System budget cuts. This fee would, ideally, lead to the sustainability of the Falcon Center for many years to come.
The Student Voice feels that the addition of this fee, while a significant sum of money for full-time equivalent students, would make UW-River Falls a more attractive campus for prospective students looking at joining our university.
The Falcon Center, once finished, certainly will be a significant addition to the UWRF campus, and will provide lush fitness opportunities and better overall sports facilities for students, faculty and student-athletes.
A significant amount of the mandatory physical education classes required of all students would take place in the new Falcon Center. Also, health and human performance majors will have a new facility that will finally be sufficient for the department's growth. Health and human performance faculty and the athletics department, coaches included, would have new offices to call home.
Students can also look forward to attending sporting events in state-of-the-art facilities that will attract more River Falls citizens, prospective student-athletes, and sports fans of all ages from a number of surrounding cities; not to mention the students who will go wild for the new basketball court, an improved hockey arena and a fitness center that blow the current one out of the water.
There is also an amount of altruism in supporting the Falcon Center. Because many current UWRF students will not be around to make use of the Falcon Center when it comes into use in the fall of 2017, some may find that they're paying for something that won't benefit themselves. But it should be considered that contributions made by current students will help future Falcons, and will help the campus grow and, hopefully, increase recruitment and retention.
It should also be kept in mind that before the University Center was finished students were paying fees towards its progress, and current students are paying for its maintenance today.
The Student Voice hopes that Van Galen's proposal is passed on Tuesday, as it will have a positive impact on the lives of hundreds of thousands of future Falcons.