Some Missouri Southern students fighting fee increase for rec center

JOPLIN, Mo. -- Some students at Missouri Southern State University are seeking to reverse a fee increase that will go toward a recreation center already under construction.

They are circulating petitions seeking to eliminate the $150 per semester fee, which takes effect in the fall. For students taking six credit hours or less, the fee will be $75.

"There's a lot of opposition to the new fee," said petition organizer Malachi Blaxton, who was gathering signatures Friday. "We didn't have a voice in this. We're college students. We're poor as it is."

But university spokesman Rod Surber said a student survey had indicated overwhelming support for the fee. He also said the Student Senate has supported efforts to build the recreation center for years.

Student Senate member Adam Hancock, 21, agreed that students always had a say in the project.

"It's been a major focus of the Student Senate," Hancock said. "The Student Senate has been behind it 100 percent."

Surber said the cost for the 65,000-square-foot center could range from $14 million to $16 million. The university plans to borrow $14 million for construction, using student fees to finance the bonds.

The center will include a gymnasium with three basketball courts, weight machines and exercise equipment, a theater, running track, a health clinic, meeting rooms and offices. It is scheduled to open in the fall of 2009.

But Eunice Aquino, a 19-year-old who will graduate in December, said she may never be able to use the facility, which she said will include amenities already available elsewhere on campus. Although recent graduates will receive a free membership, many will move away, she said.

"It's just way too much money to spend on what we already have," said Aquino, who signed the petition. "Most of us live on loans and grants."

And freshman Tim Louderback, who also signed the petition, said fees will be a hardship for many, especially those like him using financial aid.

"Students, especially freshmen, didn't really have a say in it," Louderback said.

Blaxton said he hopes to gather 500 to 1,000 signatures and present them to president Bruce Speck and the university's board of governors later this month.

He said he and the other petition organizers aren't opposed to the recreation center, just the fee. Because the university has a number of commuter students, it's not clear how much students would use the center, he said.

"Ultimately, we're just trying to give a voice to students," said Blaxton, 20, a junior from Tuttle, Okla.