The debate regarding when the Bicentennial Student Center (BSC) should be constructed has grown more intense as the financial situation at Miami continued to worsen over the last year, and rightly so. As budgets are cut and the prospect of increased revenue in future years declines, we must have clear priorities to remain a competitive university. These priorities can only be strengthened by an open debate to establish a collaborative vision for our Miami.

Nearly 20 years ago we had a strikingly similar debate on our campus over whether we should build a new Recreational Sports Center (RSC). The Miami Student reported on Feb. 5, 1991, that plans were underway for a "campus recreation building to meet the needs of the growing population of health-conscious people." The newspaper also reported Miami would institute a hiring freeze in response to cuts in the state subsidy.

I cannot imagine Miami today without the RSC. However, due to budget constraints, the immediate construction of the RSC was delayed only a year after its announcement.

This all too closely reminds me of what we have experienced since the BSC was announced. After the project became public, the economy went into a recession causing Miami to lose millions of dollars on its investments. Given these economic realities and the shortfall of our first year class, President David Hodge was right to delay the immediate plan for construction of a student center when we did not know if our commitment to academic excellence was being challenged.

However, in the early 1990s, as the RSC was delayed the planning still continued; today the planning for the Student Center continues as well with student input at the heart of the project. This has lead us to a design that features four times the study space on campus, offices and meeting spaces for 120 student organizations, dining and programming options and the centralization of important student services. These benefits indeed show our commitment to the undergraduate education by meeting the co-curricular needs of students outside the classroom. Still, questions remain. The Miami community is asking how long should we wait to begin construction? And when we start building what percentage of the construction costs should be paid for by students as opposed to donations? I hope to have your personal feedback. Before we answer these, I want every student to better understand the BSC.

At Associated Student Government (ASG) student senate Tuesday night, University Architect Robert Keller will publicly present the newly redesigned plans for the BSC for the first time. David Creamer, vice president of finance and business services, will lay out several scenarios for how to fund the construction and operating costs of the building. Once this information has been released, I will work during the coming weeks to bring this information to the student body and seek your direct input on the future of this project. There are both benefits and costs involved in the construction of the BSC, and I want you to clearly understand both. To assess when the time is right to begin construction, we must delve into a conversation of cash flows, debt ratios, economic indicators and admission projections. Unfortunately the answers to these are still months away, but will be central to the decision on when to proceed.

I will however turn to an equally important question of what the student contribution to the project should be. To independently

answer the question of how much students are willing to pay for the BSC, ASG has taken a step that is uncommon at Miami. Instead of waiting for administrators to tell students how much our fees will increase to support a BSC, we are asking students to determine what that amount should be. To this end, ASG has hired a consulting firm specializing in student life building analyses to hold focus groups and perform a financial analysis survey of the student body to determine what dollar value students place on the benefits offered by a new student center.

Additionally, there are three principles on which I stand in regard to paying for this project. First, no student will pay for the BSC until the doors are open. Second, when the bonds (or the mortgage) for the RSC are retired in 2014, all fees for this purpose shall be re-distributed to reduce any increase in fees to pay for the BSC. Third, unlike most public schools, Miami must fund a sizable portion of this building with donations to ensure that the financial impact is minimized on students.

With these principles in mind and a report from the consultants due back in early December, it is my hope to deliver these student recommendations in a report to the board of trustees during their Dec. 11 meeting. Between now and then I need your feedback - e-mail, call or tweet. This entire process is incomplete without your input. The decisions we make this year will have a profound impact on the future of the BSC. As with the RSC, hopefully in 20 years Miamians will look back and applaud this generation for their diligence and forethought.