Student athletes will have another reason to live in rentals close to OU, aside from being able to get to class on time. The Ohio University Board of Trustees unanimously approved a $620,000 design for a study center for student athletes to be located on the north side of Peden Stadium.
The upcoming Perry & Sandy Sook Academic Center will more than double the amount of academic space dedicated to student athletes. The $6.1 million project received a 2014 lead gift of $2.25 million from the Sooks, both OU alumni from the 1980s. The center will include a classroom, computer lab, tutoring rooms, study rooms and staff offices.
About $5.7 million has been pledged or donated to the center, about $400,000 to make up the tab, which will come from Athletic reserve funds and a $100,000 bond from the university to build-out ADA-accessible restrooms on the first floor.
Campus Controversy
Naturally, that much money carries its share of controversy on a financially strapped campus.
“At a time that the university has $500 million or more in debt, to go and borrow money to build a new facility that is totally unnecessary and non-critical to the core mission of the university borders on academic and financial malfeasance,” said Richard Vedder, distinguished professor of economics emeritus at OU. “It’s brawn over brains at Ohio University.”
But for Athletes who live in Ohio University housing or apartments close to campus, the center will be a convenient resource in between practices and games.