Campaign begins to fund building of new student union, recreation center

The University of Mississippi now educates just fewer than 20,000 students. 

This number is in part due to the freshman class size, which increased 19.9 percent from last year. Also, retention rates have gone from 78.3 percent to 83.1 percent in two years.  

“As our enrollment grows, the demand for services continues to grow,” Larry Ridgeway, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, said. 

To fulfill this need, Associated Student Body president Virginia Burke began the Legacy Gift Campaign. 

Designed by and for students, the Legacy Gift Campaign is an effort to raise funds for a new student union and recreation center. 

The new union will include more flat floor space in which clubs and student organizations can meet, a ballroom space for campus events, a medium-sized auditorium and a movie theater.  

“We have a great need for a small auditorium space that could accommodate speakers, comedians or small acoustic musical groups,” Ridgeway said.  

The new recreation center will be comprised of updated training space and more space for fitness groups and classes.  

To support this campaign, students will be asked on their my.olemiss account if they would like to add an extra $50 to their tuition to fund the Legacy Gift Campaign. 

If students check yes, the money will be charged to their bursar account and placed directly into the campaign fund. This money will go towards the estimated $100 million needed for the project.  

Ridgeway stated that once funded, it would take about 18 to 24 months to complete, but how soon the project starts depends on how many students participate.  

“We are going to issue bonds, but any money that University students can contribute now could be seed money toward hopefully getting some additional either private support or some designation of a portion of tuition to go towards this purpose,” Ridgeway said.  

Funded voluntarily by students of Ole Miss, the Legacy Gift Campaign will be the first campaign of its size to be student-driven and initiated.  

“I was here when we got the go ahead to start planning for the Turner Center.” Bill Kingery current Director of Campus Recreation said. “It was a great experience, and when we opened in 1983 we were able to see that the campus community was ready for a facility such as Turner. Now it’s time to start a new project.”