Multimedia Reporting (Bradford-Utsler)

Last month, students voted for a resolution that will help build the rowing team a new boathouse. But what most students may not have realized was that plans for the boathouse barely exist.

There is no timetable set for construction to begin. An architect has not been approved, and a construction company has yet to be hired. The Athletics Department said the students have funded 40 percent of the bill, but a specific source for the remaining costs have not been determined.

The rowing team currently stores its boats at city-owned Burcham Park, in a fenced-in area called “The Cage.” But the city hasn’t agreed to let the University build a facility there.

The Kansas rowing team practices on the Kansas River Saturday. With the $20 fee increase for women's and non-revenue sports, the team is expecting a new boathouse in the next three years.

Kansas is one of two Division I schools with a rowing team that does not have a boathouse for its rowing team or is in the process of building one.

With the students approving the $20 women’s and non-revenue fee increase, $15 of which goes for the boathouse in last month’s elections, the rowing team finally has plans for a boathouse. It’s an improvement that Kansas coach Rob Catloth has been asking for since the program became a NCAA Division I varsity sport in 1995.

But is it the students’ responsibility to pay for the rowing team’s boathouse?

Some say no.

Ian Staples, the legislative director of student senate, said he thought the athletic department could afford to pay for the boathouse without the student’s support.

“Through the spirit of Title IX, through the spirit of women’s and non-revenue sports, it would be more appropriate to fund it through the athletic department,” the Lawrence junior said. “The athletic corporation has the resources. They’re able to do it themselves. They are not in the red here.”

The Department of Education reported that the Athletics Department had $10 million in profit last school year. Only the University of Texas had more profits in the Big 12.

These are the expenses and revenues for all the Big 12 schools during the 2004-05 school year. (source: Department of Education)

The Indianapolis Star reported that the department was the third most profitable in the country.

Marchiony said it was fair to ask the students to support women’s and non-revenue sports financially.

“If the students had said no, you wouldn’t have heard any kind of clamor from athletics,” Marchiony said.

The students did not say no. Referendum No. 2, the $20 increased fee for women’s and non-revenue sports, $15 of which goes toward the rowing facility, received more votes — 5,316 — than any other referendum on the ballot.

Out of the $20 increase that will take effect next semester — increasing the non-revenue and women’s sports fee to $40 — $15 will go to the boathouse fund for the next three years. Marchiony estimated the costs of building the boathouse should be between 4 to $6 million. The students will pay approximately 40 percent of that cost. Donations will cover the other 60 percent. Marchiony said the Athletics Department had yet to find a donor.

Most athletic facilities on campus, such as the new football facility that will be built next to Memorial stadium, are paid for entirely through donations.

However, with a small alumni base in rowing, associate athletic director Jim Marchiony said it was difficult to find a donor.

At Kansas State, the athletic department raised funds through a Boathouse campaign for a $1.3 million rowing facility, according to the Kansas State athletics Web site.

The student fee for athletics at Kansas is one of the only fees that does not have a student advisory board to determine what will be done with the money. Instead, with athletics, the $40 goes straight to the athletics department.

To ensure that the money would go to the construction of the boathouse and women’s and non-revenue sports, Student Senate asked Athletics Director Lew Perkins to guarantee in writing that the money would not go elsewhere.

If construction of the boathouse does not begin in the next three years, Perkins agreed to return all of the money back to the students.

The increase came as a result of a study that was conducted by the Campus Fee Review Subcommittee of Student Senate. The group evaluates every student fee once every three years.

“This is something that isn’t going to Bill Self’s salary,” student senator Cory Kelly said. “We were guaranteed that none of it would go to football or basketball through moving funds around.”

Marchiony said the Athletics Department began meeting in February or March with various senate groups expressing a need for the boathouse.

Student Senate never voted on the fee increase to fund the boathouse.

“Senate really doesn’t like voting on student fee increases in senate,” Kelly said. “We’d rather have students vote on it.”

Kelly, West Des Moines, Iowa freshman, and fellow student senator Jack Connor began collecting signatures for a referendum of the $20 fee increase, including the $15 for the boathouse, to go on the April ballot. For a referendum to be voted on by students, 1,000 signatures must be collected or student senate can vote to put it on the ballot with a two-thirds vote.

The referendum got 2,000 signatures.

Marchiony said there was no timetable set for the construction to begin of the boathouse. First, the Athletics Department must find a donor or donors to pay for the other 60 percent of the costs. Then, they must meet with architects and the city to determine what they can build and where.

Whether the students should pay for the boathouse or the athletics department should foot the bill is now up to the Provost and the Board of Regents, who still have to approve the referendum.