History and Background Information

The Iowa Memorial Union is a vital facility on the UI campus. It is often the place where the University makes its first impression on potential students, faculty, and staff. It is also the place where current students meet, eat, get involved in student organizations, or go to concerts and lectures. To bring the IMU up to student expectations, a major renovation is required.

The IMU was built in 1925. Additions and renovations were completed in 1927, 1955, 1965 and 1988. In 1988, a $10.5 million project linked the additions of 1920 and 1965 on the second and third floors. The 1988 addition also created the Terrace Lobby entrance, improved the ground floor food service areas, established the Student Activities Center on the ground floor, expanded the University Book Store and upgraded the mechanical systems.

As part of the Student Services Master Plan (1999-2000), Brailsford & Dunlavey conducted a study of what students desired in a student union facility. Among its finding are:

• Focus Groups revealed a significant portion of students, faculty, and staff consider improvements to the IMU a high university priority.
• All categories of students were willing to finance improvements through student fees. Students strongly felt that the improvements would build a sense of community, improve the quality of the out-of-class experience, and make the campus more user-friendly.
• The survey revealed that weekly student usage of the IMU would increase from approximately 53% to 79% with a facility renovation.
• Although students would like to see more retail services on campus, students showed an even greater interest in more convenient hours, better services, and space for student activities.(i.e., lounge spaces, quiet study areas, computer labs, etc.)
• Food service quality, variety, and cost were consistently the most frequently mentioned negative aspects of the building.
• A majority of the Big Ten campuses have completed a substantial renovation of their student union facilities within the last few years or have plans to do so.

UISG Support

The plans to renovate the IMU have been shared with the current and past University of Iowa Student Government (UISG) executives. Those student leaders "support the idea of changing the IMU back into a 'student union'". Previous executives stated in a July 22, 2002 letter, ?UISG supports the Master Plan for the IMU and requests that the following stipulations are maintained throughout:

• Each phase will improve or increase student space, not just maintain the present space.
• The fee charged to students will be reviewed with the student leaders each year.
• Students will continue to be included in the planning process for these improvements.

For each phase, the University is committed to meeting the requests outlined by the UISG.

Fee

The renovation and the resulting student fee will be phased in over a number of years. The estimated cost of Phase I is $8,976,000, however, because of debt services and bond issuance costs, it will require an estimated $10 million. Phase I includes master planning for the renovations project, and deferred maintenance items, and a possible River Terrace and a possible westward expansion of the IMU. The student union renovation fee of $29, approved by the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, in November 2002 will be utilized for this phase of the project. This renovation fee went into effect for the 2003-2004 academic year. Once the renovation master plan is complete, additional student fees will be proposed to fund future phases.