Office of the Chancellor > Speeches, Columns and Letters > Dedication Ceremony for the Student Initiative Outdoor Recreation Facility Project

Dedication Ceremony for the Student Initiative Outdoor Recreation Facility Project
August 17, 2007

Chancellor Peterson speaks at the dedication ceremony for Farrand Field.

Thank you, Gary, and thank you all for coming this afternoon to help us celebrate the Student Initiative Outdoor Recreation Facility Project, made possible by our students.

It gives me great pleasure and great pride in our student body to stand here today on this newly renovated field with all of its great features to honor our students' commitment to quality and to the university's present and future students.  

In addition to hosting a variety of recreational and entertainment events, Farrand Field is also the rehearsal home for the CU marching band. Although the band could not join us today, I want to recognize the long history that Farrand has established as the band's rehearsal and preparation field for countless games and other spirit-filled events. Many of our alumni, faculty, staff, students and community members view the marching band as one of our most popular music groups, and we are pleased to ensure the continuing relationship between the band and Farrand Field.

Certainly, students involved in the marching band and a variety of intramural sports, club teams and other activities benefit greatly from high-quality recreation facilities. And studies have shown that a connection exists between the availability of outdoor recreational facilities and the decision by many students to attend a university.

Thanks to the forethought of our students, four years ago the UCSU legislative council commissioned a study on the quality of our sports fields to determine how they were meeting the needs of students. The study found CU-Boulder was not ranked as highly among our peers as we would like with respect to in the quality of outdoor recreation facilities.

In order to address this need, Recreation Services proposed a renovation and development plan that was implemented in spring 2006 and completed in two phases, last fall (2006) and this summer with the unveiling of the new, improved Farrand Field.

The entire project provided improvements—such as upgrading field quality and installing lights—to Kittredge Fields, Franklin Field, and Farrand Field, and also included construction of four new outdoor basketball courts east of the Coors Events Center. Additional improvements for Observatory Field and Williams Village, among others, are planned for the future.

These improvements will have a positive impact on the general health and safety of our students, and will produce ecological and environmental benefits as a result of less use of water, fuel, chemicals, and other resources used to maintain the fields.

Most importantly, this project helps to enhance the sense of community on our campus. I want to thank UCSU and all of our students for making this project possible through the student fee for outdoor recreation facility improvements. This is a shining example of the good work that students have committed themselves and their dollars to in order to ensure that CU-Boulder can continue to provide the highest quality education and a living/recreating campus possible.  

I predict that in a very short time, this facility will become a center of activity with regular performances, activities and events—some planned and some spontaneous, and I look forward to seeing all of you enjoying this wonderful facility.