With a flip of their golden shovels, Sacramento State President Alexander Gonzalez and campus officials broke ground on the new Recreation and Wellness Center this morning.

Campus leaders from the past and present attended the ceremony and took turns speaking on the occasion.

“Two years and we will be standing in the Recreation and Wellness Center,” said Meredith Dinnie, chair of the University Union board of directors. “How cool is that?”

Throughout the day events continued on the site of the new building located between the Hornet Stadium and the practice fields. A BMX stunt team performed jumps off of ramps next to parking structure III and free food and a band drew crowds at midday.

The ground breaking is a milestone for the project, which was proposed in some form as early as 1999. A referendum calling for a student fee increase was put forward that spring for a new recreation center and narrowly failed.

Students tried again the year after. This time they failed by an even wider margin.

“The no vote pretty much said, ‘Didn’t you listen to us last spring?'” said Leslie Davis, University Union director.

The project was revived in 2003 when Peter Ucovich, executive vice president of Associated Students, Inc. at the time, suggested revisiting the idea. Ucovich and Davis worked to solicit more student input on the project.

They stopped students randomly in the University Union to survey them on desired features in the new building, reeling them in with the promise of a free lunch. “We probably bought pizza for over 1500 students,” Davis said. They sent out 28,000 paper surveys.

In spring 2004, Ucovich and Davis met with Gonzalez and student recreation groups to decide whether to pursue a third referendum. They did, and a majority of students agreed to levy a $110 a year fee on themselves to construct the $70 million facility.

When Gonzalez arrived at Sac State, he incorporated the project into his Destination 2010 plan, which calls for upgrading and adding new campus facilities and services to create a better image of the university and attract more students. He said it takes student services and not just academics to do this.

“That’s what they want, and that’s what they deserve,” Gonzalez told the audience.

Roger Xiong, senior psychology major, said that while he was looking forward to running on the building’s indoor track, he was not sure the project was necessary.

“I think that it’s a great thing, but at the same time I think that maybe the money could have been spent somewhere else, updating old classes, for example Douglass Hall, some of the older classes, they have problems,” he said.

“I’m just glad we’re building it,” said Derrick Santens, senior in marketing and enterpreneurship. “The fee hikes that we have to pay I think are fair because I only have to pay them one or two semesters, so it’s cool for me.”

Sam Pearson can be reached at [email protected]