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Regents approve budget for millions in renovations at Iowa Memorial Union
The Board of Regents has approved a budget of more than $81 million for renovation of the Iowa Memorial Union.
Regent David Barker was the lone vote against the proposal, which is largely funded by student fees. “I think the regulation and funding of higher education is changing rapidly, and I think it’s the wrong time to put future students in debt for this 80-million-dollar project,” Barker says. “A time of rapid change like this, I think the priorities and needs of future students might be very different from today’s. A renovated IMU is not necessary now. Pausing this project, I think, is a good place to start to prepare for a possible new world with less funding and less competition between universities to build the most lavish amenities.”
The UI says the fee to fund the renovation was proposed and supported by the Undergraduate Student Government and the Graduate and Professional Student Government. UI Vice President Rod Lehnertz talked about the project during the facilities committee meeting on Wednesday. “It will address more than 55 million dollars in deferred maintenance and long-standing systems aging within that facility, which was originally built in 1925,” Lehnertz says. He says the renovation will be done in phases starting this year and running through 2027.
The funding for the IMU will include $75 million, with 100 to 120 dollars in fees per semester for undergraduate and graduate students. Six-point-four million dollars from the Student Health Services Reserve Funds will also be used. The project includes the relocation and integration of student health, wellness and counseling into one location that would have a separate entrance.
