A task force made up of Temple administration, faculty members and students has ceased meeting for the time being, its members said, because little information has been released about the proposed on-campus stadium since the summer.
The 15-member task force first convened last spring to brainstorm alternative uses for the stadium space. Members of the task force came from the College of Public Health, the Provost’s Office, Facilities Management, the athletic department, Temple Student Government, Student Affairs and the Tyler School of Art.
“The task force has completed its work as of now,” said Jeremy Jordan, the director of the Sports Industry Research Center and the university’s faculty athletics representative.
He added that the task force submitted a report detailing recommended uses for a stadium to the President, Provost, Board of Trustees, the deans of each college and school as well as the Faculty Senate and Temple Student Government.
“Those recommendations were multipurpose academic spaces, space for lecture halls or smaller classes, event space, a research center, particularly for use in the new concussion study and a dining facility open to students, faculty and parents, which is something we don’t currently have,” he said.
“In my mind, the most important thing we plan to do is use it for events for the high schools nearby,” said Student Body President Aron Cowen.
Cowen added that the stadium could be used for high school graduation ceremonies and football games.
Until the feasibility study is complete, Cowen said the task force cannot accomplish much else. In July, the Board of Trustees approved an additional $250,000 for the study, bringing the total spent on the study to $1.25 million. Staff from Moody Nolan, the firm conducting the study, looked at other designs of stadiums in urban areas to get ideas on how to keep the noise level low and keep the community involved. They plan to combine the study’s results with feedback from the community while creating plans for the stadium.
“Once the study is in, we’ll look at the totality of the data and move from there,” Cowen said. “The study doesn’t really have a deadline. … It’ll be over when they get all the data they need.”
In August, Dozie Ibeh, the associate vice president of Temple’s Project Delivery Group, told The Temple News that the Board of Trustees had not set a date for the study to be delivered.
Representatives from Facilities Management, the athletic department, Student Affairs and the Tyler School of Art could not be reached for comment. A representative from the College of Public Health declined to comment.
Amanda Lien can be reached at amanda.lien@temple.edu or on Twitter @amandajlien.
Julie Christie contributed reporting.
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