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Bias
inherent to recreation center
Last
week a number of focus groups were conducted
on campus with the supposed intention of
determining whether or not the student body
wishes to proceed with the construction
of a multi-million dollar recreation center.
The
focus groups were conducted by Brailsford
& Dunlavey, a consulting firm dedicated
to bringing projects from "concept
to concrete." It's amazing that Associated
Students, Inc. Executive Director Richard
Haller can claim that Brailsford & Dunlavey
are a "neutral organization attempting
to conduct an unbiased survey."
An
unbiased survey would examine all sides
of the issue, including estimates of potential
cost. When Jeffery Turner and Greg Wachalski
of Brailsford & Dunlavey refuse to estimate
the cost of building a recreation center
on campus, can they conduct an "unbiased
survey?" It is impossible to take such
an absurd proposition seriously.
Brailsford
& Dunlavey's services don't come cheap.
Total expenditures for holding the focus
groups are estimated at $22,000. Brailsford
& Dunlavey have a long list of clients,
and they have helped to plan facilities
for scores of universities, from Arizona
State to Wright State.
There
are a couple of ways to determine the likely
cost of the proposed recreation center.
The first would be to examine Brailsford
& Dunlavey's own Web site, and the cost
of recreational facilities they have constructed
for other schools. The only number given
is $45 million, the cost for the first phase
of construction of athletic facilities at
DePaul University. The big difference between
Cal State Long Beach and DePaul is that
DePaul is a well-heeled private school,
which CSULB is very much not.
A
second method to determine cost, used by
the CSULB Coalition to Stop the $35 Million
Rec. Center, is to use previously given
estimates. Three years ago, it was estimated
that student fees would increase by about
$150 a year to pay for the project.
Wachalski
and Turner, facilitators of Brailsford &
Dunlavey's focus groups, displayed a surprising
lack of knowledge about the make-up of the
student body, already existing campus facilities
and the troubling financial situation facing
CSULB. What they fail to comprehend is that
CSULB's role is to remain among the most
affordable and accessible universities in
the country. Perhaps this isn't surprising,
considering the fact that Brailsford &
Dunlavey are based in Washington D.C., and
have little concern for the best interests
of this university. What is surprising and
quite disturbing, however, is the fact that
ASI enlisted the services of an outside
consulting firm, paying them tens of thousands
of dollars, to conduct sham focus group
research aimed at manipulating student opinion.
The
issue of the recreation center boils down
to two things: cost and priorities. The
high price of building the facility will
prohibit the school from spending to improve
academics in the future.
Sterling
Harris is a history major at CSULB.
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