The proposed recreation center is a good deal for theuniversity, but a bad deal for students. So says Brandon Abell, asenior and government major, who is opposed to increasing studentfees to help fund the building of the RWEC center.

Abell said asking students to pay $110 a semester for therecreation center is unfair to the students that would not use thecenter on a regular basis, and most students will not get theirmoney’s worth out of the new building.

“With a parking structure, everyone who drives pays fortheir parking permits, but it wouldn’t be fair to askstudents who walk, bike or take the bus to pay for parking,”Abell said. “For the same reason I don’t think it isfair to ask for students who won’t use it to pay for therecreation center.”

Abell said he supports the building of the center because itwill improve the campus and bring publicity, but he does notbelieve that campus improvement costs should rest on the backs ofstudents.

Abell said the center should be funded with money from thecommunity, user fees and money from outside sources. Abell said hedoubts the campus has exhausted all options for external funding,especially considering the campus does not have a developmentofficer yet.

“This is not a good way to be spending studentfees,” Abell said. “Just a couple of weeks ago therewas a big rally opposing student fee increases, and the presidentof the university and the ASI leaders came out to oppose theincreases. Then they turn around and have a rally for raising thefees for about the same amount of money for the new center, whichis ironic.”

Abell said he personally would use the center and likely get hisfull amount of money out of the center, but other students shouldnot have to pay for his recreation. Even if the fee was less, hesays the principle would be the same, and $110 a semester is wellover the value most students will get out of the center.

“Some would say that $110 is cheap compared to a gymmembership, but then you have to think maybe one out of five woulduse it on a regular basis,” Abell said. “You multiplythat by five, and you have $550 a semester per student who actuallyuses it, and the value starts going down quite a bit.”

Abell said that since Sacramento State is mostly a commutercampus with 40 percent of the student body living outside thetri-county area, most students won’t have time to use thecenter between commuting, work and school.

“A few students who live on campus, or live close tocampus and don’t have jobs will be the mainbeneficiaries,” Abell said. “Once there is more of acommunity built up around the campus more students will start usingit, but right now there is very little that is concrete.

“If we are going to raise student fees, we should betaking a second look at how much frivolous expenses we are addingto the student bill,” Abell said. “The center is nice,but it is just not a necessity right now.”