Referendum season is here again. For the past couple of springs, the new semester brings with it the possibility of fees increasing, and this semester is no different.
Student sovernment leaders have passed the referendum to increase student fees to pay for the new Bayou Park outdoor pool.
SGA should be careful, though, because this bill could already be dead in the water.
Remember last year’s failed proposal to pump $1 million into the smallest athletic budget in division one sports? Seems like a good enough reason to increase fees, right?
In another time, maybe. But when money is tight for everyone, students don’t want to pay more money than they already pay. That feeling likely has not changed as the fog of economic uncertainty still lingers thickly in the air.
As such, the Bayou Park referendum is already in jeopardy, and the straw poll results shouldn’t bring a sense of encouragement to anyone wanting to see an outdoor pool.
Forty-six percent said they prefer an outdoor pool to the natatorium. But that also means that 54 percent did not want a pool in Bayou Park, either favoring to renovate the nat or do nothing.
Couple that percentage with the low voter turn out, and the referendum’s chances look even bleaker than the NLU swim team’s chances of returning.
People who didn’t care one way or the other simply didn’t vote in the straw poll. That means they don’t care about the Bayou Park plan. And that means they aren’t going to pay for it.
While those students may have stayed silent for the straw poll, they are probably going to rush to the polls to vote down a referendum that adds nearly $100 to their fees because, again, why would they want to pay for something they don’t want built? If they were motivated enough by the idea of the Bayou Park outdoor pool, they would have voted for it the first time.
Don’t despair Bayou Park pool fans. You havent lost yet, but you are going to have to overcome a lot of ground in a few short months.
The University and SGA need to start wooing students now if they want to see the project come to life.
Otherwise, the referendum will fail and the pool will not be built. Then all we’ll have left is a dilapidated building and a whole lot of ill will from angry swimmers in the community.
That’s not going to be good for anybody.
ULM’s best bet may actually be to go with the natatorium because supporting the natatorium means making the community happy. That in turn means the influential and wealthy people supporting the natatorium may open their checkbooks to the University’s fundraising campaign.
But if Bayou Park is what leaders feel would be best for the students, they should go for it because they are there for the students and no one else. But they need to sell it and sell it hard.
