The University of Illinois Campus Recreation Department's ice arena hosts the school's club hockey team, a speed skating group and general social gatherings for students of all kinds — all of whom have the chance to save the facility this week.
As reported by The News-Gazette of Champaign, Campus Recreation director Marcus Jackson has previously emphasized that Campus Rec wants the decision to be made by the students who will have to fund the arena's upkeep. Student fee increases could vary from $5 to $13 depending on what students decide to do.
According to News-Gazette reporter Luke Taylor, polls opened at noon Tuesday and online ballots will be accepted until noon today. The three arena-related questions included:
- “Should Campus Recreation partner with community agencies to offer student access to a new off-campus ice arena? Current student fee revenues would be transferred to this facility in exchange for similar student access at the current Ice Arena.”
- “Should we demolish the current Ice Arena space and replace it with a Multipurpose Court for a $5 increase in student fees?”
- “Should we renovate and continue to maintain the current Ice Arena for a $13 increase in student fees?”
Nolan Woodring, goalie for the Illini club hockey team, said he feels students want to restore the current arena based on reaction to the team's social media calls to action.
“I’ve been kind of running it, working along with other groups on campus to just get the word out as far as that there’s a vote happening, and just to state how we feel about the vote because obviously without an ice arena, we would be nothing,” Woodring said, as reported by The News-Gazette. “I think if we’re just trying to stay as a good community ice rink, we’re not getting rid of this one.”
Members of Illini Speed, a student organization formed last fall, also have an interest in keeping the current arena status quo.
President Marcello Gaus-Ehning said that student members of the Champaign Regional Speedskating Club formed Illini Speed to get extra days on the ice to practice, but without an on-campus ice rink, he doesn’t know what they would do, Taylor reported.
“We’d probably end up losing the extra ice for the student organization because there wouldn’t be a rink associated with that,” Gaus-Ehning said. “So I’m not sure what the plan for the club would be going forward, if that were the case.”
Even during this, his freshman year, Gaus-Ehning said he has noticed multiple groups he is involved with have held social events at the Ice Arena even though they weren’t otherwise associated with skating.
“I think the public-skate aspect of it too, and having that outlet for students to go and socialize with each other and skate, is just really important to the campus community and the greater community as a whole,” he told The News-Gazette.
