Fresno State has a new student union, but for the moment it only exists as a few artistic renderings, colorful floor plans and in the minds of a committee of administrators.
This “bold new union” and its feasibility were discussed by Dr. Frank R. Lamas, Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, and Provost Lynnette Zelezny at a forum for student and faculty feedback on Tuesday.
Lamas shared a general floor plan of the proposed 100,000 square foot, three-story building that would house retail food space, a ballroom, many multi-use meeting spaces and a faculty development center. This plan places the new union where Taco Bell is located, so the building would sit near Speech Arts, the Henry Madden Library and across from the current student union.
“When we were looking at all of this we were looking at the synergy of the various buildings,” Lamas said. “The synergy was not to recreate the things that in the library, the one union and this one – it was more to have a synergy and make this middle of the campus just an outstanding place for people to come.”
Lamas said plans are to not recreate any things in the union but floor plans for the new union propose offices for Associated Students Inc. The organization’s offices are located in the current USU.
Lamas said plans for the new student union were set into motion after the Association of College Unions International visited campus during Spring 2015 and spoke with faculty, staff and students to gauge the needs of Fresno State.
A feasibility study was approved by University President Joseph I. Castro. Lamas said so far the budget for the study itself that hired Stantec, a higher education architecture firm, to create the vision for a new USU is around $100,000.
“I don’t have the number off the top of my head,” Lamas said. “I believe it was a $100,000 for the study. Just off the top of my head I don’t remember the exact number, plus the bills are coming in and out and so there’s a certain amount we’ve allocated but that doesn’t mean that we’re going to spend all that.”
Although Lamas said he didn’t have specific numbers, earlier in the semester he said a new USU would probably cost at least $60 million to $80 million. Funding for the building would need to come from a number of sources if it gets approved.
“If we were to move ahead, in terms of funding the building we would have to look at private donations, we would have to look at possibility of student fees and whatever other, if there were any operating funds we could put towards this project,” Lamas said.
The project would be completed in four years, Lamas said. After another feedback session is held on April 27 and online feedback is collected, Lamas, Zelezny and their committee will present the information to the president’s cabinet.
“At that point we will look if we are getting enough positive feedback that hey ya this is a priority, then we’ll move ahead,” Lamas said. “Next year we would go to a referendum in April, if it passes then we move ahead and it would probably be three or four years from there for the building to be in place.”
The conversation eventually turned to one of the hottest campus topics: parking. At first, faculty were concerned the proposed location of the new union would take away a large portion of their parking lot. Lamas said only one row could possibly be lost.
“That was one of the conditions with Stantec, fit it in there and don’t take a lot parking because then the provost and I would need flack jackets,” Lamas said.
Then others in the crowd began to wonder how the administrators plan on accommodating the increased demand for parking the union would likely generate. Lamas said parts of the university’s master plan propose increasing available parking. Zelezny said they will take steps to understand the priorities of students and faculty before
“I’m not a parking car,” Zelezny said, “but one of the things we’re trying to think about here is the sequencing of things, and what are the things we want to move forward on to make this campus a showcase. Parking is important, but we’re trying to give some legacy ideas. Let us know through feedback, though, if parking does need to take a higher priority.”