Trustees knew field turf dilemma
The Board of Trustees knew when it voted to replace the turf in Kelly/Shorts Stadium it would displace the women’s field hockey team, and it still doesn’t have a definite plan to remedy the problem.
On Feb. 23, at the board’s subcommittee meeting for facilities, University President Michael Rao, and trustees Gail Torreano, Melanie Reinhold Foster and Roger Kesseler were informed by facilities and athletics officials that a proposed field hockey facility west of Lyle Bennett track would cost $800,000.
“We didn’t realize that the cost would be anywhere near that,” Trustee chairman Jim Fabiano said last Thursday. “We were all taken back by that.”
Despite their initial concerns, the board allocated $975,000 for the replacement of the football field’s turf at their March 4 meeting.
According to Athletics Director Herb Deromedi, the bids for a new field hockey facility went out on Feb. 13.
A questions and clarification period was opened up to potential contractors on Feb. 19. Officials were informed at that time that a new field could cost upwards of $800,000, Deromedi said. Final bids were not received until Feb. 26.
The events surrounding the displacement of the field hockey team has led Student Government Association Senator Rob Harrison to introduce two resolutions on the floor — the Gender Athletic Equity Act and the Fair Play Act, which will be voted upon in the Senate today.
The North Carolina senior demands that the board act on this matter as soon as possible.
“We don’t have time to (BS), we have a team that will be displaced,” Harrison said.
Deromedi said there are other less desirable options besides building a new field hockey complex by next semester.
The board suggested that the team could play its home games at Alma College or Michigan State University or play on the turf bay in the Indoor Athletic Complex, Deromedi said.
Utilizing the IAC, which was designed for practice purposes only, would leave only a small amount of sideline space, which could be deemed unsafe, Deromedi said.
The team could also play all games on the road, but that solution is still problematic, he said.
Rao has said that the university could not shoulder the price tag for a new field hockey facility in the $7.6 million budget deficit.
Harrison has been lobbying the trustees to pay for the new field out of the Campus Improvement Fee, which students have been paying $37.50 per semester during the past four years. Officials estimate the fund will reach $4 million by June.
It can only be utilized for campus improvements, said SGA President Sean T. Johnston.
The idea was discussed at a meeting last Thursday between Foster, Residence Hall Association President Nick Marinello, Finance and Administrative Services Vice President George Ross and Interim Associate Vice President for Facilities Management Stephen Lawrence, said Johnston, who also attended the meeting.
Johnston said he and Marinello are taking student input on the issue and Foster will present a report from the board’s facilities subcommittee at the April 22 meeting.
Harrison said waiting until the next meeting is unacceptable and allows the board and administration to talk behind closed doors — shunning the student body from the debate.
“This is our money, not Jim Fabiano’s and the board of trustees,” Harrison said.
Trustees and administration officials said they’ve known all along that if the university chose the FieldTurf brand of playing surfaces, it would be incompatible with NCAA approved field hockey surfaces.
“The board understood that they were voting on a football turf only (field) and that it would not be adaptable to field hockey,” said Mike Silverthorn, executive director of news services.
