$35M initiative could improve MSU's IM facilities Committee's recommendations due in spring

Christopher Behnan | Lansing State Journal

EAST LANSING - Michigan State University expects to spend as much as $35 million improving athletic and recreational facilities across campus.

This spring, a committee is expected to recommend the best ways to spend the money to the university's Board of Trustees, which will have to vote again on a final project. The money won't be used to build new facilities.

"We're really encouraging them to look creatively across the campus in how we use the entire campus as a basis for fitness and movement," MSU Provost June Youatt said at the Friday morning meeting where the board signed off on the planning process. "We're in a 5,000-acre park here."

Students have complained there is not enough space at the IM buildings to meet their athletic needs, she said.

For the women's dive team, the condition of the IM facilities is a matter of points, and potentially standings, team member Madeline Sewell said.

Sewell said the team doesn't have access to a diving platform on campus during the winter months. That means the team doesn't have a platform diver and loses team points to universities that do, she said.

"It allows other schools to get a leg up on us," she said.

The facility improvements will allow MSU to better serve the recreation needs of students living on and off campus, as well as MSU faculty and staff, Youatt said.

She said all potential improvements at IM West, IM East and IM Circle will be determined by the committee, which will be made up of MSU students, faculty and staff. The effort is part of MSU's Healthy Campus Initiative.

Contact Christopher Behnan at (517) 377-1261 or cbehnan@lsj.com . Follow him on Twitter@LansingCB.