OVERVIEW

Our proposal:

Our proposal is to complete the third phase of the MU’s three-phased renovation plan and then immediately build an “annex” to the Memorial Union on the existing pay-parking lot to the east of the OSU Bookstore to replace the MU East building. The proposal for which we seek input from students is based on the conceptual plan shown on this website. The proposed annex is the central facility serving the student out-of-class experience and would likely include ASOSU, all Student Media programs, recognized student clubs and organizations of OSU, and the Memorial Union Program Council. We feel that this plan best meets both the needs of MU East occupants and the Memorial Union and is in the best interests of Oregon State University.

• Phase One:
  Since 1994, there has existed a plan to renovate the Memorial Union’s original 1928 structure and upgrade all of the ADA components, fire/life safety elements, building finishes and improve major event and public spaces, such as the Ballroom and the MU’s Main Lounge. This work would be done as the first phase of the renovation and would prepare us to build the annex facility.
  
  
• Phase Two:
  The second would be to build the annex as a replacement for MU East and connect it to the MU, most likely through an underground passage-way. Once that building was finished, we would relinquish our space in MU East to the University, who will more than likely tear it down when they have funding for a replacement building on that site. The back portion of Snell Hall (also known as MU East) will remain, which contains the Escape/MU Intl. Forum and the Craft Center.
  
  
• What’s Happened Thus Far:
  The student leadership of ASOSU and MUPC presented the original concept to the Campus Planning Committee in November of 2006 and received conceptual support of the MU annex proposal. Subsequent to that committee’s approval, the MU hired Opsis Architecture of Portland in May of 2007 to provide the conceptual design and feasibility study. Opsis architects began meeting with dozens of students and various student organizations in June of 2007 and plan to complete their work by mid-October of 2007. The students involved thus far are primarily those that would be directly affected by the replacement of MU East.
  
  
• Next Steps:
  The building of an annex requires approval by the Campus Planning Committee and both projects require a vote of the OSU student body to fund the renovation (MU Phase III) and new construction (MU Annex).

Why a Memorial Union addition to replace MU East?

Since 1973, when many of the campus’ student activities and organizations outgrew the Memorial Union, OSU’s student co-curriculum has lived in a bifurcated world; part of it in the MU and the remainder in the MU East portion of Snell Hall. This situation has caused numerous organizational problems thru the years resulting in a demonstrable loss of relationship and interaction between student organizational entities and student leaders. Students have limited time to engage in their student leadership roles and must balance this time with all of the other demands upon their daily lives. As most campuses that have experienced separating student leadership office and program space from their student unions have found, the results of the physical separation are often highly undesirable. Students in leadership roles tell us that they want to engage and interact with other student leaders. They desire access to all of the support services and facilities that those programs located in the Union enjoy. Most of all, they desire access, exposure and connection to the student foot traffic that is found in and around a college union. Without access to their fellow students, many programs struggle for visibility and engagement opportunities.

OSU’s Memorial Union was last expanded in 1959, when the enrollment of OSU was 8,317 students. Today, by using the Association of College Unions International standard of 15 sq. ft. per student, an enrollment of 19,300 would indicate a student union of roughly 289,500 sq. ft. would be appropriate for Oregon State University. Our Memorial Union is currently 172,000 sq. ft. A quick analysis of various northwest universities shows that nearly all college unions integrate the full student activities support system within a single building, whereas at OSU, we have struggled with a two-building system for more than thirty years.

Cost of Education vs. Student Facility Obligations:

While some may argue that the student leadership’s consistent fight to limit the cost of education to enrolled students is in conflict with support for support for expansion and renovation, we believe that these issues can and must co-exist. The right for students to be educated at an affordable tuition rate is a philosophical position that will likely never go away. However, there are also periods within the life-cycle of student funded facilities where students may wish to step-up their level of investment and improve and/or replace their building inventory. We believe that now is one of those times and this proposal is fully supported in that regard.

MU Historic Highlights

• 1928:
  Memorial Union opened
  Student body size was 3,490
• 1958:
  Snell Hall Built as dormitory
  Student body size was 7,676
• 1959:
  Memorial Union last expansion
  Student body size was 7,729
• 1973:
  MU moved overflow programs to Snell
  Student body size was 15,209
• 2006:
  No change in 33 years
  Student body size is 19,500,
  40% enrollment increase since the last MU building expansion

Why would students pay for this building and not OSU’s general fund?

• Beginning in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s the State Legislature worked to define what aspects within an institution may qualify for general fund allocation and what is to be paid for by the system’s students with their student fees. Through Oregon Revised Statutes, attorney general opinions, and case law, the student incidental fee system has become responsible for all aspects of student fee-funded programs and facilities, including facility construction and maintenance. The taxpayers are predominately assisting students with the funding of the educational experience, academic facilities and academic support systems only.
• This is very similar to systems used by surrounding states. Students at WSU are paying $240 per year for the renovation of their student union and another $256 per year for their recreation center. Students at Boise State will be paying close to that amount for renovation and construction of their union.
  • The students at Western Washington University are enjoying a student union building renovated just a few years ago, while the University of Nevada-Reno students are currently constructing an entirely new union to replace their former structure.
• In nearly every college and university within the PAC-10 and throughout the northwest, the full scope of college leadership programs are housed centrally in a single union facility, giving those students full access to support systems within their student union. The University of California has a separate building for student offices, but it is adjacent to their Union and connected via a shared underground parking structure.