Soon students will begin to see signs that the plans for the recreation center are moving ahead. “We are doing everything we can to make it (the recreation center) happen, and now is the time where students will start seeing things happen as soon as we appoint the architect,” Michael Matherne, director of campus recreation, said.
The Request for Proposal was sent out March 24. A RFP is a document given to architects to see if they would like to take the job. The deadline for the proposal’s return is April 26. The Nicholls Facilities Corporation, a non-profit corporation, will then review them.
The RFP includes the mission of campus recreation, a project description and generalities of what will be in the building.
“Students voted on a particular model, but this (campus recreation advisory) committee is going to work with architects to make sure all of our student needs are met,” Matherne said.
As soon as the architect is chosen, there will be a more concrete timeline for the building of the recreation center. “It takes different architectural firms different amounts of time to do the work,” Matherne said.
According to Matherne, Nicholls’ recreation center will be planned and built in the state. Depending on the architect, it will take six to 12 months to design the building and 12 to 18 months to construct the building.
“I do not know if students know that or appreciate that,” Matherne said. “From start to finish, it should be under 5 years.”
Matherne gave some examples of other state universities’ timelines for their recreation centers. Southeastern Louisiana University and University of Louisiana at Monroe both collected money for six years to the time their recreation center doors opened.
Louisiana State University collected for eight years before their doors opened. Southern University still has not started construction and they have been collecting money for over ten years.
So far, Nicholls has collected approximately $1.2 million from student-assessed fees. According to the committee minutes, Nicholls students are paying the second highest recreation fee assessment in the state at $74.25.
Once the architect is selected, the committee will hold focus groups and invite the public to attend. According to Matherne, this will be to make sure that the committee can “feel the pulse of the University and know what is important to them.”
The primary site in mind for the recreation center is across from La Maison du Bayou. According to Mike Davis, assistant vice president for business affairs for procurement and plant operations, the land should be purchased by October.
At the committee’s meeting on March 25, the members decided to allow the students to help name the recreation center based on the mission statement. “I like the idea of opening it up to the students, have them name it since they are paying for it,” committee member Michael Cobb, business administration senior from Houma, said at the meeting.
The committee plans to put a form in The Nicholls Worth, which will have the mission statement and space for students to write name suggestions. It will include instructions on where to return these forms.
The committee was established to provide guidance for the planning and construction of the facility, to provide recommendations for operations of the recreation/activities program and to provide an ongoing means for evaluation of campus recreation programs and services.
The student committee members are selected through the Student Government Association. As of now, there are 22 student, faculty and staff committee members. Since the committee is large, it is hard for a quorum to be achieved at meetings.
Damien Breaux, incoming SGA president, presented a proposal to the committee that would reduce the size of the present committee. The proposal, if passed in the SGA senate, would include a committee of eight students and four faculty and staff members.
