Big, noticeable renovations might be coming to Skyline College, specifically to the athletic facilities. The changes would possibly include a new soccer stadium and a new track, but would also the loss of some facilities as well, much to the dismay of some members of the physical education department.
     The San Mateo County Community College District’s current renovation plans for Skyline College include removing the track and turning the area into a soccer stadium, building a smaller track on the field that doubles as the softball and soccer field, replacing two fields worth of grass with artificial turf, and possibly upgrading the tennis courts. There would be no additional parking lots built, though, as was originally suggested. Similar plans are also being considered for the College of San Mateo and Cañada College as well.
     “It makes no sense,” said Chip Chandler, Skyline’s walking instructor. “If we take away certain facilities from students, we’ll forever be harming them.”
     Members of the physical education department have expressed two main concerns about these plans. First, that if the softball/soccer field is paved over to make a new track, any possibility of there being a softball program in the future would greatly decrease if not completely disappear. The second concern is that the new track might not be as good as the current one, in that not all community members might be able to use it.
     “These might not be the best options for Skyline,” said Andreas Wolf, the dean of physical education and athletic director at Skyline. “They would eliminate two viable facilities for women’s sports, and who’s to say there won’t be a demand down the road for them. Also, if we squeeze the track into such a tight space, it might present safety issues with the track being so close to the buildings.”
     “Our track is used for finals of local high schools-they congregate on our track, which brings potential students to the campus,” Chandler said. “I use the track at least two hours a day, five days a week. You’ll see a number of people there on a daily basis.”
     Aside from the objections that have already arisen, other campus groups feel as though the district has not done enough to let Skyline College know about the renovation plans.
     Tom Sullivan, vice president of Skyline’s Academic Senate believes that a general lack of information shared between the district and the school will have negative consequences.
     “Anything like this that isn’t well explained might become rumors,” Sullivan said. “Better communication is needed. It’s been very hard to find out anything recently.”
     According to Wolf, however, there has been communication between the district and the athletics department. For example, there was an initial plan to pave over the main soccer field, either putting artificial turf on it or turning it into a parking lot, but was quickly dismissed when it was found to be too objectionable.
     “There was some concern that if there wasn’t a natural environment it would be a travesty,” Wolf said. “Now the plan is to keep the main field natural. It’s the first thing you see usually when you drive into the campus.”
     Barbara Christensen, the director of community and government relations in the district’s chancellor’s office, stressed the fact that details are still being worked out and that nothing is absolute yet.
     “We’ve been collaborative quite a bit,” Christensen said. “We feel that there has been good communication between everyone.”
     Skyline College President Frances White has also expressed similar views on the situation as a whole.
     “I think in any kind of planned situation, you’re going to find differences of opinion,” White said. “What I like to rely on is the opinion of the experts. To me the experts are the faculty, like Andreas Wolf and the people here. It seems reasonable to me.”
     According to Devin Conway, the project manager from consultation agency Beals Sport- the company that has been hired by the district to do the redesign-preliminary recommendations have been made and that everyone, from faculty, to college, to district has had a say in the plans.
     “We’ve drawn up the final plan, and it is currently in review by the district,” Conway said. “We’ve been working on this since January, but we were contacted in October 2002 by the district, so it has been in the works for a while.”
     “The district has been presenting its case of upgrading the district, and they’re doing lots of good things,” Wolf said. “They want to bring the colleges to the forefront and upgrade all the facilities.”
     Ultimately, according to Sullivan, the district plan to make sure that Skyline College has state of the art athletic facilities, is a good one, but that they should take into consideration all sides of the issue before going through with the plans.
     “It sounds great, even excellent, but removing a piece of dirt called the softball field may have consequences,” Sullivan said.