Proposed campus upgrades: Frequently Asked Questions

Wichita State – with guidance from student, faculty and staff groups – has identified a list of academic and student success infrastructure needs. These needs include making physical improvements to key buildings in each academic college. The WSU student body is being asked to provide feedback through a referendum on the plan.

For detailed descriptions, go to https://wsu.news/infrastructure_priorities. The list of priority improvements includes upgrades for:

• Ablah Library
• Barton School of Business
• Career Development Center
• Clinton Hall
• College of Applied Studies / LAS Psychology
• College of Fine Arts
• College of Health Professions
• Department of Biological Sciences in Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
• Honors College
• Institute for Interdisciplinary Innovation

Deans and other leaders in each academic college sought feedback from a variety of student groups before making their final recommendations to the university administration.

This campus improvement project movement is being led by WSU students representing each college. They are beginning work on plans for informing the student body about the planned projects. The student body will vote in a March referendum to voice their opinions on whether they support the planned package of improvements and are willing to move forward with a $6 per credit hour increase to the Campus Infrastructure & Support student fee.

A referendum is a general vote on a single question. Kansas Board of Regents policy states that:

No student fees, other than user fees, shall be charged or collected by any state university for debt service on bonded indebtedness for any building or facility of such state university used primarily for academic purposes or providing health care services unless a student referendum is conducted in accordance with K.S.A. 76-742.

Alternative student funding will be sought for some immediate needs, such as the new Business School building, which already is about 60 percent funded through donor gifts. The overall package of proposed improvement will be reassessed, based on student feedback.

The state of Kansas no longer funds construction of new academic buildings, so they need to be funded through a combination of student funding, philanthropy and grants. There's too much pent-up need for repairs and renovation to existing building to fund all of those needs through annual budgets.

Those fees fund annual operating costs, including the impact of inflation, but aren't sufficient for a major step forward like the one that would be supported by this referendum.

The university's approach to using bond financing remains the same as it was during conversations about the YMCA and the Heskett Center in the spring of 2017. WSU will only assume new debt for academic buildings, which the Heskett Center is not. In the case of the proposed infrastructure plan under discussion, the university would be able to take on new debt because of the new funding source from increased student fees.

Today's students benefit from fees and tuition paid by previous students to build and maintain the classrooms, laboratories and library built in the past. We all understand that we are riding on roads paid for by many people we've never met. We, in turn, are paying for improvements that will be enjoyed by others. That's how a successful society functions.

Current students have the opportunity to help WSU meet these needs for the benefit of students and the community it serves and will serve for years to come. By supporting this campaign, students will enable the university to better fulfill its mission to empower more students, in ways that reflect their ever-changing needs, for years to come. It's an investment in the university for future Shockers.

WSU is recognized as a rising public research university. With more private support than ever before, the time seems right to have a university-wide conversation about academic and student success infrastructure needs.