Elizabeth Neuman/FOR THE SUMMER POST OU senior Susan Spracher spent Monday afternoon working out in the Ping Student Recreation Center.

On Saturday, the OU Board of Trustees raised the student recreation fee $4 per quarter, but a recent proposal currently being considered by the OU administration might result in students sacrificing more than just a few dollars. If the proposal is approved, student recreation might share the Ping Center with academic classes.

The board approved an increase in the fee from $65 per quarter to $69 per quarter. Furthermore, the trustees passed a resolution to make the facility fee part of the university's general fee beginning in the 1999-2000 fiscal year.

According to Doug Franklin, assistant dean for recreation and wellness, one reason for making the recreation fee part of the university's general fee was to take it out of the spotlight.

Franklin said when the recreation fee becomes part of the general fee, it will operate like any other university fee and will no longer appear on bills as a separate item. It will be subject to the same across-the-board increases as the other fees.

Meanwhile, a proposal is being considered by OU's principal executive officers that recommends the relocation of certain academic classes to Ping, according to Associate Provost for Space and Planning Tom Daniels.

In May, the proposal was submitted to the Provost by the College of Health and Human Services Dean Barbara Chapman on behalf of the college. In the proposal, the college requested the relocation of physical education classes, which require activity space, to Ping during the upcoming renovation of Grover Center, Daniels said.

The $24.5 million renovation and addition to Grover Center is scheduled to begin in April and is expected to conclude in the summer of 2001. During construction, existing activity space will be closed, according to Assistant Dean for Health and Human Services Lee Cibrowski.

"Keeping the courts open would just not be practical," Cibrowski said. "All the construction would have to be done around it. Once we're down, they're down until we open the building."

Therefore, classes such as the racquetball, volleyball, and basketball courses offered by the Department of Recreation and Sports Sciences would be displaced for the entire duration of construction.

Cibrowski said several alternatives were explored in addition to Ping, including the use of local school buildings or the Armory building, 2 W. Carpenter St.

"Unfortunately, there are spaces around campus, but there aren't big spaces around campus," Cibrowski said.

Franklin voiced his support for the relocation of classes to Ping.

"My contention is that academics has no other place to go, and that's what we're here for," Franklin said. "We're here to provide an education for students. And if we don't do that - if we allow a support activity to supersede what our mission is in the university - then I think we'd be doing a disservice to the university."

Franklin, along with Patricia Earwood, interim director of Ping, said holding academic classes at Ping would be beneficial to the entire student body, since every student is required to take a physical education class to graduate.

However, according to OU's current undergraduate catalog, physical education classes are no longer part of OU's general education requirement.

Franklin also emphasized the "students first" philosophy of the Ping Center would not change.

"There is always a concern when using the Ping Center to make sure that you don't impact student recreation," Franklin said.

Franklin has three stipulations for any plans to use Ping for academics. First, he said any plan must not negatively impact student recreation. Second, he said there must be some sort of reimbursement from the university to pay for increased costs. Third, any use of the facility for academics must be short-term.

"You have to trust us to do what is right for the students first," Franklin said. "We know it's the student recreation center - we live with that fact everyday."

Earwood said at no time will any one type of activity space be completely occupied by academic classes

"I would urge students to look over the past two years and look at our record. You will see that we have been very student-centered," Earwood said.

But former Student Senate Treasurer and Graduate Student Liaison Greg Mergen said that as a sponsor of the original resolution for the creation of the Ping Center, he has serious concerns about academic classes being held at Ping.

"Holding classes in Ping is very much contrary to the spirit of the original resolution," Mergen said.

He said neither old nor new Senate administrations have been contacted about plans to use Ping for academics.

Mergen's concerns were echoed by Student Senate President Chad Tanner and Student Senate President-Elect Darien Moss.

"Although use of Ping for academic classes may be necessary to fulfill the university's academic mission, I'm concerned that such use could be detrimental to the students," Tanner said.

In response, Franklin said contacting Student Senate never crossed his mind.

"I think that having students make major decisions about the facility is not the way to go," Franklin said. "You have professional staff, and each one of those professional staff is committed to do certain things. You cannot operate a facility based on quorum, based on committee, and based on a variety of students because the students are transient."

Earwood urged students who have concerns about the future of Ping to attend the Ping Center Advisory Council meetings, which are held every Friday in the Ping Center conference room and are open to the public. Because the university is closed on Friday, the next Advisory Council meeting will be held Friday, July 10 at 2 p.m.