The planned multipurpose building in Jefferson City has become known as the university and community wellness center, a change directly tied to the funds Lincoln University has for the joint project.
The city Parks and Recreation Commission and Lincoln have been pursuing a joint multipurpose building that would operate as both a multipurpose facility and a student wellness facility on Lafayette Street for an estimated cost of between $11.4 million and $13.6 million.
An email from Sheila Gassner, LU's facilities director, to Parks Director Bill Lockwood on Jan. 29 states, "We need to call the new building a wellness center. Dr. (Kevin) Rome has given it the name "University/Community Wellness Center.' ... This is due to our grant funding."
Misty Young, university relations director, said of the university's $4.6 million available for construction of the facility, $4 million is from Title III grant funding, "which may be used to develop a facility which will offer wellness education courses (to include wellness and teacher education, nursing and social work) as well as programs promoting a healthy lifestyle within the student population and the community."
Young said the Title III grant is a federal program aimed at improving educational resources for public institutions, including historically black colleges and universities as well as other institutions serving minorities.
The remaining $600,000, she said, has been reallocated from the swimming pool fund, a long-time fee collected to construct a swimming pool eventually deemed unfeasible by the Lincoln University Board of Curators.
"The wellness center, while important to the recreational needs of our students and the community, will provide the university with much needed space to be able to expand our academic offerings to include those particular disciplines that fall under the area of wellness," Young said in an email to the News Tribune.
The university also had approved a student fee of $75 per semester, per student, for the facility, but Young said that fee was approved "for the purpose of purchasing equipment and maintaining the facilities," not for construction of the building.
Internal emails requested by the News Tribune show Parks Commission President Denise Chapel being supportive of the name change when informed by Lockwood in January, though she noted "it would have been nice to have a discussion around that."