UA to lobby for new intramural facilities

The UA is ready to play ball. The Undergraduate Assembly has begun a drive to lobby the University to build outdoor recreation facilities on University-leased land adjacent to DuPont laboratories. In a meeting with Bob Glascott, the University's director of intramural recreation sports, 16 UA representatives and five students involved in the intramural program heard a 1988 proposal to put seven turf practice fields and tennis courts, two softball fields and a park area with a fitness course on land at 34th Street and Grays Ferry Avenue. These fields will be used exclusively for the University's intramural program, Glascott said. Glascott and UA representative Sarah Doty, who heads the UA's Recreation and Facilities Committee, decided to hold yesterday's meeting to find out from students their recreation needs. The DuPont fields -- which are 1.2 miles from the High Rises -- also require increases in security and transportation and possible changes in traffic since access to the facility includes crossing the entrance to the Schuylkill Expressway. Glascott said the University has brought in a traffic expert to assess the situation and said the results will be in next week. But Glascott said the DuPont plans are still in their infancy as far as a budget and a timetable. "We don't know at this time how it's going to be funded," he said. But he did say these new developments are "the closest we've been to anything new in recreation in 25 years." Glascott added that he does not know why discussions about the DuPont facility have been re-started, but speculated that it may be due to the publicity around plans to astroturf Hill Field. But UA members said they will push to make this plan -- as well as other recreation improvements -- a priority. UA Chairperson Jeffrey Lichtman said after the meeting that he supports the DuPont plan and wants the UA to get involved to provide student input on its planning and eventual implementation. "[Recreation] needs to be pushed to the forefront of development at Penn," the College junior said. He added that the UA plans to assist the effort "through our channels [in the University]." College junior Chris Arndt, who is active in the intramural program, said he likes the idea of a field on the DuPont land, despite its distance from campus, because the current "field back-ups are incredible." Lichtman said that in addition to a push for these planned outdoor facilites, the UA will begin a drive to get a new indoor recreation facility on campus. College freshman Doty said that the implementation of such a plan will not be feasible for at least four years.

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