Student Issue, 1991—Student Fees Used to Retire Stokely Athletics Center Debt

Led by the Student Senate and Graduate Student Association, students demanded that the $101,611 annual charge to the Student Programs and Services Fee for retiring the construction debt for Stokely Athletics Center be stopped. The student fee had been charged since the completion of Thompson-Boling Arena in 1987. Phil Scheurer, vice chancellor for student affairs and administration, indicated that the building was to become a student recreation center and classrooms for the music, art, and architecture departments, but the Student Senate and the Graduate Student Association both strongly opposed continuing to be responsible for the debt service of the building. In spring 1992 several RecSports activities were moved to Stokely, and in December 1992 SGA President John Taliaferro announced that the payment of the debt service would be transferred back to the Athletics Department.