Since RIMAC Arena’s opening 10 years ago, the committee in charge of its oversight has been in violation of campus policies because of inadequate student representation, according to A.S. President Jenn Pae.

Under the campus Student Conduct Code, building advisory committees “shall be comprised of a majority of students as voting members” for facilities funded by student fees.

However, only recently have university administrators taken steps to comply with the policy, according to Pae. At her request, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Joseph W. Watson changed the makeup of the RIMAC Building Advisory Committee to include a voting student majority, she said.

“She pointed out to us some of the issues and concerns here, and she was absolutely right,” Watson said. “We’re making the changes.”

Students voted to approve self-assessed fees to pay for the construction and operation of RIMAC in 1990. Currently, students pay $92 per quarter in those fees — the third-highest charge after tuition and registration fees.

“Before, it wasn’t the students’ role to pay for facilities and buildings on campus,” Pae said. “As the budget gets tighter and tighter, students start paying for things they really shouldn’t be.”

In particular, Pae said she was concerned about expansion for the complex approved by the committee prior to the membership changes.

RIMAC has planned to add an annex building, which will break ground in the summer and is planned to open by fall 2006, according to Director of Sports Facilities Don Chadwick. The 10,000-square-foot building will be located in North Campus and will contain two student lounges, a convenience store, a meeting room and a sports-themed cafe.

“We want to create a nice social hub for students,” Chadwick said. “There, students can have a place that they’re attracted to come to before or after workouts in a comfortable environment they like.”

The annex will be paid for from projected revenues and existing fees without any fee increases, according to Chadwick. Several committees, including the Registration Fee Committee, reviewed the project, he said.

The initial RIMAC referendum states that “all decisions regarding funding and operation [of the arena] must be discussed [or] reviewed with the RFC.” However, simple consultation with the RFC about the RIMAC annex still did not represent proper student consent, according to Pae.

“Although the RIMAC referenda stated that the RFC is to be consulted regarding the funding and operation of RIMAC, the committee should have voted or gone through a formal procedure to decide if the RIMAC annex should be built, especially using our student fees,” she said.

The best course of approval would have been a formal decision made through a board with a student majority, according to Pae.

“The best forum for this decision to have been made would have been a RIMAC [BAC], which was not in existence,” she said.

Watson said he agreed that the RFC has played a smaller role than initially envisioned in the referendum. In response to Pae’s concerns, Watson moved in the fall to delegate oversight of the arena to an existing committee in charge of overseeing campus athletics, the Intercollegiate and Recreational Athletics Advisory Committee. However, unlike the RIMAC BAC, created to supervise the facility, IRAAC previously oversaw only intercollegiate athletics and recreation, according to Pae.

“Although some issues will overlap in IRAAC and the RIMAC BAC, there are also areas which should be separated into the two distinct operations for each committee,” she said.

Specifically, Pae said she is uneasy about the infrequency of IRAAC meetings, which occur approximately once or twice a quarter.

“A RIMAC board should be meeting every week to discuss and vote on issues pertaining to the sports facilities that students are paying for,” Pae said. “In addition, there should be accountability with the department and where our money is going.”

Pae said she does not view the current situation as a suitable solution and hopes to see more concern directed toward student oversight of self-assessed fees in the future, especially concerning RIMAC.

“I believe that this is a temporary fix for a larger issue,” she said.