Ohio University students might receive a little more justice through a modification of the student advocacy fee passed by the OU Board of Trustees at its Friday meeting.

The student advocacy fee is run by the Center for Student Advocacy, and provides unlimited legal advice, education and sometimes litigation in landlord-tenant disputes for $5 a quarter.

Trustees passed a modification that will add the fee to all OU students' bills. Students will have the option to waive the fee, said vice president for finance Richard Siemer.

Previously, the fee was automatically charged to only juniors and seniors, but the students also could decline the payment. Freshmen and sophomores could request the fee on their bills.

Besides modifying the student advocacy fee, trustees also voted to modify parts of the campus through renovations.

The trustees voted to begin plans for an 8,000-square-foot strength training and conditioning facility for the athletics department.

This $850,000 facility will be added to the Peden Stadium west grandstands. Private funds will cover the bulk of the project.

The co-ed facility will allow more athletes to train at one time, Athletics Director Thomas Boeh said. Once completed, the department will need an additional $150,000 to provide weights and exercise equipment for the facility.

To better accommodate hockey fans and athletes, the trustees approved the hire of an architect to develop plans for a 4,725 square-foot addition to Bird Arena. The $800,000 addition would provide locker rooms, concession space, skate rental and storage, an observation area, a ticket office and administrative space.

"We've had incredible success in club hockey," Vice President for Administration Gary North said. "We have become a hockey mecca."

The trustees also decided to alter the tennis courts next to Ping Center by making four of the 10 courts indoor facilities.

The courts will be housed in a tent-like enclosure and heated for year-round use.

The facility, which will be kept at 50 degrees in the winter, has sides that can be raised, North said.

The board authorized the construction plans and approved RVC Architects, Inc. to build a 2,200 square-foot club house for the golf and tennis courts east of Ping.

In addition to existing construction projects, board members decided to further the progress of several more projects by passing the re-financing of a 1993 $23 million bond issue and the request for an additional $30 million bond issue for consideration by the regents at their November meeting.

The Series 1998 Bond Issue, if passed by the Board of Regents, would request the $30 million for on-campus construction projects.