Student input sought for future Union plans

Student Union Task Force chairman Mike McCoy said yesterday all students interested in contributing to the recently formed committee ought to call him at his ASUA office.

"The referendum raised students' expectations," said McCoy, also a member of the Associated Students presidential cabinet.

"Students want a new Union, not a patch job," he said.

Task force members held their second meeting yesterday to discuss a trio of goals:

• A new way of financing the Memorial Student Union renovations

• How to better educate students about such a plan

• How to keep the renovations a top priority of administrators.

The committee, formed Tuesday by ASUA President Gilbert Davidson, will address these issues with a goal of drafting a new Student Union renovation funding proposal by Feb. 16.

Students voted against the Student Union referendum last month, which would have charged students $40 a semester to help pay for renovations of the ailing building.

McCoy said there was definitely a lack of campuswide knowledge about the failed referendum.

He asked committee members, "Did we do a good job educating students?" adding the referendum may have failed because students did not understand its wording.

Task force recorder Ariane Mele said the meeting went well.

"These are a bunch of people who really care about this and want to come up with a solution," she said.

Both McCoy and Mele emphasized the task force is not simply composed of ASUA members, rather, it seeks to represent a variety of voices.

Jeff Schrade, who headed the "Union Yes! Fee No!" campaign is a member of the committee, along with representatives from University Activities Board, KAMP Student Radio, the Interfraternity Council and the Residence Hall Association.

"We want to focus different representatives on campus to this group," McCoy said. "This is not just ASUA."

Four ASUA members are on the committee, including McCoy and Mele and Sens. Summer Katzenbach and Justin Klump.

Katzenbach said she also thought the meeting went well.

"We're just trying to sit down and look at options," she said.

McCoy said that unlike the first meeting, which was largely about setting goals, this meeting started the work he sees the group must accomplish.

"This was a good discussion. No one was afraid to speak," said Mike McCoy, chairman of the committee, but members were hesitant to reveal the specifics of the one-hour meeting.

He said the meetings are closed to students and the media so members can speak freely, McCoy said.

The nine members of the committee who attended yesterday's meeting in the Cactus Lounge of the Student Union were instructed not to discuss who said what during the meeting.

McCoy added that the committee will meet again before the winter break and he hopes to make an announcement on its findings on Feb. 16.

The committee had previously announced the deadline as Feb. 15, but pushed it back a day so the announcement would come on a weekday.