The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Student Senate met Wednesday Mar. 27 and discussed several ongoing projects as well as a resolution in support of Gov. Evers budget proposal for the UW System. After a roll call and vote on consent to the agenda the senate was given a presentation by Vice Chancellor for administration and finance at UWL Bob Hetzel regarding the development of a potential “Eagle Dome” a project that was proposed following the completion of a similar dome at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. 

The Eagle Dome would be an inflatable dome insulating either the campus soccer field or football field during the winter season with the football field being the cheaper option. Hetzel gave an earlier presentation on the project but focused on financing details and how funds would be procured.

An Eagle Dome constructed over the football field would cost an estimated 2.726 million dollars with construction being the largest contributor to the budget which would be funded through 926,000 dollars in University reserves and 1.8 million dollars through fee bonding. This would amount to an annual 70,000 dollar cost to UWL. Though the project would include an increase in housing rates and dining fees Hetzel promised parking fees and textbook rental fees would remain unaffected. Following the overview of the project the Senate began a question-and-answer session with Hetzel and several other campus representatives.  

Several senators had questions and concerns regarding the dome. Sen. Thering brought up the UWL Field House Project that is currently in design. Thering questioned the wisdom of a building a dome, saying “If we only need this for five or ten years, I don’t know if this is necessarily worth the cost.”  

Hetzel responded by saying the Field House would not include grass turf, making the dome a better recreational facility for sports such as football and soccer.  

The director of campus athletics, Kim Blum, also responded to Sen. Thering, explaining that “the sports that would stay in the field house [in the winter] are really just track.”  

Sen. Micech discussed the possibility of weather damage given the record snowfalls recorded in the past winter. “The Minnesota Vikings had a problem with having a dome where snow build up destroyed the inflatable dome over their football field in 2010. How do we know this won’t happen to us?”  

Several senators also had questions regarding longevity issues. Sen. Nielson wondered whether the projected twenty-five-year longevity of the dome presented a long-term issue, “In another twenty years are we going to have to put down another 3 million for another [dome]?”  

Nielson was reassured it would likely be closer to one million in repairs.  

Sen. Wears asked a question related to durability, wondering if it would if this would increase the durability of the turf. He was told the durability of the turf would likely be a wash because the greater weather protection offered by the dome would inevitably be lessened by the extended use of the field that the dome made possible.  

Bob Hetzel discussed how the dome could possibly improve campus recruitment strategies, “It’s an opportunity that we have, that most other campuses don’t.”   

The senate was also addressed by guest speaker Provost Betsy Morgan. Morgan discussed the full transition to the learning management system canvas scheduled to take place by Fall of 2019, as well as the upcoming implementation of the navigate system for student advisement.  

In addition she discussed the plummeting rates of international students enrolling at UWL and nationwide explaining that free tuition in other countries made studying abroad in America less desirable. Finally, Morgan noted the recent adoption of a new computer engineering major which was planned with the hope of attracting new students and expanding the variety of course offerings on campus.  

In response Sen. Thering stated he did not favor that the political science department was “limping along” in the absence of new funding, and that he would “prefer funneling money into other departments.”  

Morgan noted that UWL could only use the money for STEM programs such as computer engineering, and that said that “producing a new field that will bring new students to UWL [offered] a better argument” for utilizing these dollars.