Field house referendum passes student vote

Jenae Winter, Staff Reporter

On Tuesday, Oct. 14, 3,656 UW-La Crosse students cast their votes on the matter of the field house referendum, which would result in an indoor sports stadium on campus.

There was a bit of controversy when the plan was first introduced, mostly because more money would be added onto student tuition in order to pay for the field house. Another stirring of controversy was that most of the students attending school presently will have graduated once the field house is ready for use.

But, as was made aware by the email sent out by the Student Senate the day after the vote, the referendum was passed with 56.2 percent in favor and 43.8 percent negating the building of the field house behind Veterans Memorial Football

Stadium.

“[The voter turnout] is the greatest rate of participation in a student referendum in UW-L’s history,” Chancellor Joe Gow said in the email to the students after all was said and done.

However, just because the vote including UW-L students is over, it does not mean the field house will be becoming a reality quite yet. There are many steps eyond the Student Senate approving the referendum.

“From there, the building project must be approved by the Board of Regents in December,” reported Student Association President Kaylee Otterbacher.

The Board of Regents is the entity that oversees all the happenings at all schools in the UW system. This meeting will be held in Madison on Dec. 4 and 5. The Student Senate will be attending this meeting in order to speak for the students and campaign to get the referendum approved.

“Students are invited to join us,” Otterbacher stated of the meeting.

If it is passed through the Board of Regents, the referendum will then be sent to State Building Commission, where it will be decided whether the referendum will fit into Wisconsin’s budget for the years of 2015 to 2017. After that, it will travel to the tables of the Wisconsin Legislature and the governor, where the state government will either pass it and the building plans will continue or not.

The Student Senate will be keeping the population at La Crosse up to date on how the referendum is faring through these votes with various emails, but there is still quite a long way to go until the field house could become a real part of UW-L.