After reading a story in the Chronicle of Higher Education taking LSU to task for its new lazy river, a luxury lounge pool that is the marquis attraction of the university’s refurbished $85 million rec center, Business Report Editor Stephanie Riegel wonders in her latest column if LSU has its priorities in order.
The article, entitled “The Lure of the River,” discusses the proliferation of lazy rivers and other lavish recreational amenities on public university campuses. It also explains how ever-steeper student fees are being used to pay for high-end attractions at a time when state and federal support for academic programs is dwindling.
“It’s a perverse dynamic,” Riegel writes. “As public universities are forced to increasingly rely on student revenues to make up for reductions in government funding, they’re feeling the heat to give students all the bells and whistles that will keep them happy—and enrolled on campus, paying their tuition and fees.”
The 536-foot long lazy river is impressive—spelling out LSU as it winds through tropical foliage while music streams from outdoor speakers. The refurbished rec center also boasts more than 40,000 square feet of cardio and weight room space, a 38-foot-high climbing wall, tennis courts, lap pools and studios for group exercise.
Riegel says it’s more than a little over the top, but, as she points out, LSU students voted several years ago to tax themselves an additional $135 over three years to help pay for this new playground.
No state general fund dollars are being spent on it, she adds.
LSU President F. King Alexander bristled when asked about The Chronicle article. King, who’s well-respected in national higher ed policy circles, offered a rational defense, saying such amenities enable LSU to remain competitive with peers and help increase university retention and graduation rates, among other things.
It’s the same rationalizations used to explain away the use of private funding to buyout football coach Les Miles’ contract and justify building a $10 million building for the LSU Foundation on Nicholson Drive, Riegel writes.
She doesn’t buy it.
“If we can figure out how to leverage a $135 increase in student fees into a $85 million rec center, why can’t we figure out how to address some of the capital needs of the aging academic buildings on campus, like the library?” Riegel says. “Why can’t we leverage the athletic department’s $13 million donation into scholarships and faculty pay raises? Why can’t we get our priorities straight?”
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