The three dorms located in the Magnolia Triangle; Bernice Lange, Alice Thomas and Baranco Hall are scheduled to be torn down to build a $8 million Student Recreational Sports Complex next year.
The complex will include three racket ball courts, indoor swimming pool, aerobic rooms, jogging lanes and weights.
“The plans for this state of the art recreational center was the idea of the late director, Horace Moody,” said Melvin Robinson, director of Intramural Sports. “We have been planning and talking about this for over 20 years.”
The complex will be open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. to accommodate students and faculty.
“Lack of equipment and space has affected attendance tremendously,” said Robinson. “People gain weight if they don’t come, there’s nowhere else for students to go to exercise.”
Lange and Thomas Hall have already been torn down and construction is currently on hold for Baranco Hall to be evacuated. The Army ROTC office is moving back to their original building, which is currently being renovated. The Center for Energy and Environmental Studies is also placed in Baranco Hall waiting for relocation.
Baranco Hall is scheduled to be torn down in December of 2003 according to the Office of Physical Planning.
Students at Southern University made over 45,551 visits a year to the Women’s Gym according to attendance records at the building. The football team, women’s volleyball team, men and women’s basketball team and the Southern Lab School practice in the gym.
“I can be more effective as a Director of Intramural Sports in a modern facility because we are really cramped in here and can’t accommodate a lot of groups,” said Robinson.
Since 1992 students have been paying $15 a semester for the construction of the Sports Complex.
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Magnolia Triangle dorms come down for future Rec. Center
December 6, 2002
Photo by Kyra Jenkins/DIGEST
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