As plans for the ICCU Arena move forward, so do plans to create more student-central spaces on the University of Idaho campus.
ASUI President Nicole Skinner and ASUI will seek signatures and the final touches on an ICCU Arena Student Fee Agreement next week, which includes an initiative to change the name of the Idaho Commons to the Idaho Student Union Building.
“Historically students have put a lot more into campus facilities then they ever get out of it,” Skinner said. “So we wanted to have a broader conversation about the ways that we’ve used student spaces on this campus, which includes more than just the ICCU Arena.”
Nicole Skinner | Courtesy
UI’s plans to construct and bid for the ICCU Arena moved forward two weeks ago after the State Board approved its funding request. In approving it, the State Board allowed the university to make headway on their plans for construction of the $46 million project, with groundbreaking anticipated to occur in spring 2019, granted it gets proper approval from the next UI president and State Board executive director.
The Commons name change comes as part of a memorandum of understanding regarding student control and usage of the ICCU Arena ahead of the State Board of Education’s vote on the increased student fee, which is set for its April 17 and April 18 meeting in Moscow.
The proposed name change needs approval from the State Board before official changes can be made. No date has been set for the board’s approval. UI President Chuck Staben and Provost & Executive Vice President John Wiencek would also need to approve the changes.
The name change would officially change the name on all official signage, which would likely occur over the summer, Skinner said.
A piece of the agreement for ASUI includes reinstating the Idaho Student Union Building Board, which would be a subset of ASUI, Skinner said. The board would conduct review of the overall space, make recommendations and conduct tenant review.
Skinner said the agreement is part of a larger push to create more student spaces on campus.
“It is incredibly important that people find a sense of community here and I think that comes in so many different ways for so many different people,” Skinner said. “We really are lacking as a campus in terms of our student space. We have very few social student spaces on campus and if you go nearly anywhere on campus after like 3 p.m. there is nobody there. I think that is really abnormal for a campus of our size.”
Meredith Spelbring can be reached at [email protected]