Student government met with Jon Watts, vice chancellor for business and finance, in early October to discuss potential options for the land that was formerly occupied by University Residence South. The plan for the land, which previously housed Greek Life, is to be used as green space.
Student government has pitched the idea of sand volleyball courts.
“It would show support of student recreation on campus, and we could potentially build on this in years in the future when we do have additional funds,” said Sam Schroeder, student body president.
While the project would be expensive, Schroeder said that he hopes that it could be expanded later as more funding comes in from the school.
In addition to the sand volleyball courts, the student government would also like to eventually build basketball courts and a new study area on the west side of campus.
Schroeder said that sand volleyball courts have been highly requested by students for decades. He also said that it would be practical for the retention and recruitment of students.
“We have a very visually appealing campus, but I think this would improve upon that,” Schroeder said. “I think that it would show that students come to our university leadership and that students are heard here and appreciated.”
Lewis Berg, a junior psychology major, said that he would prefer a new study space to be built in the URS space instead of sand volleyball courts.
“It probably wouldn’t affect me because I wouldn’t use them, but I don’t understand why we need that because we already have volleyball courts in the Health and Sports Center that we can use,” Berk said. “But if other people like it then that’s OK.”
With UNK’s specific layout, more recreational buildings are built on the eastern side of campus than on the western side.
“Our size and shape is pretty unique,” Schroeder said. “Trying to stretch out up to West Center, we have a lot of focus on the eastern side of campus because the union and a lot of our academic buildings are over here.”
UNK would also be able to form a second-division sand volleyball team if courts were added.
“Sand volleyball is currently the fastest-growing women’s NCAA sport,” Schroeder said. “It’s going to trickle down through division one to division two as well.”
Sand volleyball is currently the most popular UNK intramural sport with 92 teams. It faces problems with its setup at the Big Apple since it is inconvenient to get referees and athletes across town.
“It’s hard for international students to get involved in that because you have to take a car all the way out to the Big Apple,” Schroeder said.
