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Miami announces detailed BSC plans

Dylan Tussel and Jessica Sink, Senior Staff Writers

Until now, many of the proposed ideas about the design of Miami University's Bicentennial Student Center (BSC) have been tentative, but this week a more defined plan and conceptualization of the facility was presented to university senate and Associated Student Government (ASG).

At the university senate meeting Monday, Robert Keller, university architect and campus planner, and David Creamer, vice president for finance and business services, discussed how the BSC will accommodate students in a way the Shriver Center fails to.

Keller said in the competitive marketplace of higher education, there is a visible need for a larger, more modern student center.

Keller said the average student center on college campuses has 12 square feet per student. Shriver has 6.5 square feet per student.

The BSC will be about 200,000 square feet — almost twice as large as Shriver, Keller said. This would increase the amount of square feet per student to slightly above the national average.

In addition to providing more space for the student body, the BSC will provide more space exclusively reserved for student use.

Barbara Jones, vice president for student affairs, said at Tuesday's ASG meeting there will be more space allocated for student organizations in the BSC and an application process will determine which groups are granted office space there.

"The application process will be through the student activities office, and there will be some spaces that are assigned more permanently than others," Jones said, noting certain spaces will be reassigned annually.

Jones said more than 100 student organizations will be provided meeting space in the BSC. The application process has not been finalized.

The BSC will also provide students vastly more study space than Shriver.

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"We minimized administrative offices (in the BSC) so most of the space could be utilized by students," Keller said.

Jonathan McNabb, outgoing student body president, said lessening administrative offices in the BSC is practical for a university like Miami, as students at comparable public schools in Ohio have protested about their student unions not focusing enough on the students.

"The school newspaper from (Ohio State University) complained a lot of administrative space was in their student center," McNabb said. "From day one, we worked to solve that problem and make students the focus of our student center."

The issue of Shriver's inadequate, outdated food court was also tackled in the planning of what to include in the BSC. The BSC's two-story food court, which will provide at least twice the variety of food Shriver offers, will address student demand for updated dining options.

"They're talking about a barbeque place, Asian place and Mexican place," Jones said. "And there's the possibility of having a sports zone around the barbeque."

Creamer said Haines Food Court in Shriver will shut down when the BSC food court opens.

"Haines Food Court would not be operated," Creamer said. "And the current staff there would be relocated."

Another major focus of the new student center is sustainability.

"We went back to the drawing board, and the new plans I think students will find very exciting," Jones said. "It's going to be much more sustainable because we're not deconstructing buildings, we're using existing buildings."

The BSC also has other sustainable features, such as motion sensor light switches, composting, an increased emphasis on recycling and possibly even a green roof.

"We're actually looking at a sod roof," Keller said, referring to eco-friendly, turf-like material.

Keller said having a sod roof would reduce the amount of heat absorbed from sunlight compared to traditional roof materials.

The sod roof would also help with water runoff from the roof, Jones said.

Jones and Keller said they hope and believe the BSC will meet the standards of sustainability required to win a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. The Farmer School of Business is currently Miami's only LEED-certified building — however, the emphasis the BSC plans place on environmental sustainability signifies a drive to expand environmentalism throughout the rest of the campus.

Also in contrast to Shriver, the BSC will offer more natural lighting through its glass ceilings and walls.

Matt Forrest, off-campus senator, described the experience of leading tour groups through the bottom floor of Shriver.

"It's crowded, noisy and dark," Forrest said. "And with people occasionally rolling garbage cans past us, the prospective students have a stinky experience."

The BSC will be less confined than Shriver, Keller said, so the atmosphere will not be as stuffy.

"It's much more open than Shriver is," Keller said.

Another issue addressed in the presentation was concern about the BSC cost. The new BSC plans included a drastically lower estimated cost than the ones proposed in 2009.

"The president challenged those involved with planning to come up with a better model," Keller said. "The current projected cost is much less than that of the original design."

The current plans call for an increase in student fees of $111 per student per semester. It has not been determined when the fees should commence.

"There was quite a bit of a discussion about that, but the consensus was the fees would not commence until after the building was finished," Creamer said. "And the fees will last pretty much forever. The costs tend to go toward preserving the building and therefore are permanent. This has to be assumed as well."

The revised BSC plans rectified many cost-related issues that surrounded the initially proposed BSC designs, McNabb said.

"They're actually a vast improvement on the plans from last year," McNabb said. "They save a lot of money, (so) students don't have to pay as much, and they also make sure the core student priorities of this project are at the heart of where the money is going."

McNabb stressed the importance of having more study space, areas for student organizations and a more diverse food options on campus.

Creamer said other universities fund similar projects solely through student fees. Miami is different in that other sources, such as donations, will cover a large portion of its construction expenses.

Forrest supports the construction of the BSC despite its partial dependence on student fees.

"We as student senators spent a lot of time and risked our reputations to support something we think is really important," Forrest said. "We're really confident and passionate about this, and we find it essential to the success of the university. We hope to get university support on this."

The current timeline lists January 2014 as the expected completion date of the first phase of the BSC, at which time a large portion of the BSC will be operational. The completion of the second and final phase is planned for August 2015.

"The renovation of Gaskill Hall and Rowan Hall, as well as about 90 percent of the new construction is in Phase I," Keller said. "It will mainly be food, seating, lounge, student organization space, meeting rooms and the auditorium."

Most of what is going into Phase II is more meeting rooms, some more food and storage, according to Jones.

The BSC will include a multipurpose room, as well as a two-story auditorium, comparable to the Farmer School of Business' Taylor Auditorium. With the new multipurpose room and auditorium, Jones said the BSC is a prospective venue for future summer orientations.

Jones feels the BSC will be an integral part of Miami's campus and its construction is far overdue.

"This project is probably the students' project more than any other construction that's happened on campus since the recreational sports center," Jones said. "ASG has been advocating this for 11 years now, working to make it a reality."

McNabb agreed.

"Miami is known for having a strong focus on undergraduate studies, as well as having a focus on co-curricular activities," McNabb said. "This building is not just a student life building — it incorporates a lot of the aspects of the academic side of our university as well … its focus couldn't be more spot on for me."