SDSU Students Approve Arena Construction

On their third try, one that Athletic Director Fred Miller had characterized as nearly do or die, San Diego State students have approved by nearly a 2-to-1 margin the construction of a $30-million student activities center and arena.

“I’m just ecstatic,” Miller said Friday. “The campus went to bat, and the young people here voted yes on a gift that will last for decades.”

Students had voted down similar measures twice in the past seven years, but this time the vote was overwhelmingly in favor of increasing student union fees to pay for the new facility, which is expected to have a capacity of 10,000 and will serve as the home for SDSU basketball. The vote was 3,774 in favor of the proposal and 2,033 against. The 65% yes vote was in contrast to a 56.3% no vote the last time students voted on the issue in 1986.

The turnout of 5,807 students, however, was a drop from the 1986 vote, when 7,033 voted to turn down a similar measure by a 3,961-3,072 count. All of SDSU’s 34,716 students were eligible to vote in the four-day election that concluded Thursday night.

Larry Emond, president of SDSU’s student governing body, the Associated Students, said the difference this was time was that the increase in student fees will be graduated over the next three years and that groups that favor the center, including the athletic department, did a much better job of educating the campus about the need for such a facility.

Students voted to approve a $15 increase in their $16 per semester student union fee next fall, and additional increases of $10 in fall 1989 and $22 in fall 1990. The increases eventually will raise the fee to $63 per semester.

“The yes vote was about the same this time,” Emond said. “It was the no vote that was different. People come out to vote no in these kinds of elections, not vote yes. Many of the people who are in favor just stay home. There was less reason to vote no this time.”

Another reason for approval might have been an organized get-out-the-vote effort by several campus groups that had a strong interest in the new facility, including the athletic department. Many of the athletic teams voted en masse during the week at Peterson Gym, one of four campus polling sites. That polling site produced the highest percentage in favor of the facility with 610 (81.9%) voting yes out of 745 ballots cast.

All four sites produced totals in favor of the proposal. The greatest turnaround from last time came at the business administration building. Voters there approved the measure 445 to 312 after voting down the issue by 57% two years ago.

The university board of trustees still must approve the project in their May meeting.

Construction on the facility, which will be built on the site of Aztec Bowl, is expected to begin by November 1989, Miller said. The center is to be completed in time for the start of the 1991 fall semester. It will be the first major recreation complex built on campus since Peterson Gym was opened in 1961 and will replace the San Diego Sports Arena as the site of SDSU men’s basketball games.

The project also will include construction of soccer, softball and tennis facilities and the building of an adjacent, 1,500-car capacity parking garage.

Start-up costs for the facility will be supplemented by a $1-million pledge from the athletic department and $1 million in Associated Students reserve funds.