How can the Board of Trustees decide to spend $5 million on Bovee University Center improvements but hire an architect who says they’re going cost roughly $10.9 million?

When we turn in our term papers, our teachers don’t say, “Oh, I’m actually going to need 32 pages, not 15.”

Hire a new firm.

No more college analogies – no business would keep doing business with contractors who doubled the estimate and the budget of a project without warning.

Make sure the next firm knows how to use a calculator.

First off, the project was approved “at a cost not to exceed $5,000,000″ according to April 19, 2007, Board of Trustees meeting minutes. Trustees need to approve the additional spending at their April 24 meeting.

Before that, let them know you don’t want to pay more than the original $5 million – their contact info and business phone numbers are listed below.

If CMU administrators aren’t livid over this inflated price tag, then they must have gotten a heads-up. If administrators knew it would cost more than $5 million, they misled the Board of Trustees, which approved the project. If the Board knew it would cost more than $5 million, then trustees misled the university community.

Maybe the problem wasn’t with the architecture firm, but with what CMU asked it to do. The student hangout doesn’t sound so good when it’s attached to a $10.9 million price tag. And let’s face it, that’s at least $11 million and likely more by the time it’s done.

Stick to the $5 million renovation. There is work that needs to be done to the UC, including removing several offices that are not used by students in favor of meeting rooms for them. But limit the renovations to those that can be made for $5 million. Or find private donations to fill the gap.

Last April, the administration told us, “We may have to use the reserve funds to get the project started, though.”

If reserve funds were needed for a $5 million job, just where is that extra $5.9 million coming from? Unless it’s from private sources, that extra $5.9 million is better served as scholarships, research funds, computer labs or investing in person power. Let the trustees know what you’d do with $5.9 million.

Students were consulted to see what they wanted in the UC. We applauded the effort at the time and it still is a good idea. But what those surveys didn’t ask was how much students would be willing to pay for the fixes.

Listen to your university.

w President Michael Rao: president@cmich.edu, 774-3131

w Board Chairman Jeff Caponigro: capon1jr@cmich.edu, 248-355-3200

w Facilities Chairwoman Gail Torreano: torre1gf@cmich.edu, 313-223-7171

wFinance Chairwoman Stephanie Comai: comai1s@cmich.edu, 734-761-6915

From: cmich.edu/trustees/members/members.asp

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