STUDENTS IN UCC have voted in favour of a £30 increase in capitation from next year to cover part of the cost of a new indoor sports centre. The £7 million pound development will include a 25 metre pool, a fitness studio, a cafe and, for "mornings after the night before" in Nancy Spain's, a sauna and solarium.
In a referendum held in the college last week, the proposal to increase capititation was passed by 2,499 votes to 262. The current sports centre dates from the 1960s and is 1,200 square metres in size the new one will be almost five times bigger.
"Basically we had been using facilities belonging to other institutions for a number of years," says students' union president Martin Clancy. "The absence of suitable indoor facilities was definitely affecting the performance of UCC in indoor athletics." Other problems have arisen for example, while UCC possesses an Olympic trampoline, the roof of the old centre is not high enough to permit its use.
An agreement on funding for the new centre was reached between the college authorities and the students' union last year, with the college agreeing to match the student contribution pound for pound.
The £30 increase will provide a funding source of £3 million over an estimated 10 year period with the remaining funds to come from the UCC Foundation, augmented by expected support from the National Lottery. According to UCC president Dr Michael Mortell, a commitment of £500,000 has already been made to the project, which is expected to reach completion in 1998.
Opposition to the increase was led by criticisms that the money raised would be better spent on improving creche facilities. According to the union, which urged a yes vote, a creche was opened for students in 1993 and there are plans for a second one on the site of UCC's proposed "second campus".
"When an extra curricular facility like this gets to the top of the list you have to take the opportunity," Clancy says. "It's not a creche versus a sports centre or library facilities versus a sports centre. It's simply a case of getting the sports centre or not. The money wasn't going to be spent elsewhere."
Work is likely to start as soon as the planning permission, which has lapsed, is reconfirmed. The chosen site is the Mardyke, across the road from the college.
Sadly, the absence now of an on campus pool in UCC means that there is no way to drown the members of the college's wargaming and role playing society (WARPS), who were offering a unique Valentine's Day service. For a mere £1.50, trench coated WARPS members were offering to "shoot the object of your desire in the lecture of your choice" on February 14th. The take up rate on this unique offer is unclear, but suffice it to say that, short of smearing yourself in garlic paste and walking naked through the Boole library carrying a bunch of flowers, there would appear to be no better way of ensuring that the object of desire heads for the hills than engaging WARPS as a dating service.
