ASMSU Student Assembly representatives will make a decision whether to pay $50,000 for a ropes challenge course for universitywide use at today’s last 2001-02 meeting.
The undergraduate student government is looking at reapproving the project, which the 2000-01 Student Assembly approved last February.
Because the course will not be built by June 1, a fresh decision must be made to collaboratively pay for the course with MSU’s intramural department.
Jack Teasdale, a representative from last year’s Student Assembly, proposed the project because he was a member of Team Building Systems, a now-disbanded student group.
“I wanted to find a way to help students accomplish their goals, and a ropes course would do that,” said the interdisciplinary studies and social science senior.
A lack of money kept it from being built. A decision for the course’s location was never made, he said.
“This year we have had some hard economic times and appropriations from the state aren’t what we hoped to be,” he said. “It’s not a friendly time for us to create the program.”
John Kreger, Student Assembly College of Communication Arts and Sciences representative, said he doesn’t know if the time extension for the project will be passed, but hopes members will be in favor again.
“The ropes course offers a unique opportunity for the university,” Kreger said. “The organization wants to have a legacy for the future and this allows for us to do it. We will be able to use tax-paying money intending it the way it is supposed to be used.”
But art freshman Mike Forsyth said $50,000 is an unreasonable amount to put toward a rope course. He also said the course is an unreasonable idea.
“No one is going to want to climb 50 feet into the air,” he said. “It’s not going to do anything.”
Richard Barnes, president of Experiential Systems, a company that constructs obstacle courses, proposed a ropes course that was strung from eight poles 25 feet in the air and occupies about a 30 by 60 foot space. It will cost $20,000 and take about five days to build.
Other proposed items include a $84,000 ground obstacle course and a $20,000 climbing tower - a vertical wood wall.
The Kalamazoo-based company has built rope courses for three other universities, including Michigan Technological University.
“Just about any group that exists on campus can use it,” Barnes said. “It benefits co-workers because they gain self-esteem and good risk-taking skills.”
