The article I chose as my supplemental text was the one from Inside Higher Ed about the excessive funds being spent on student recreation (https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/06/15/are-lazy-rivers-and-climbing-walls-driving-cost-college ). Kellie Woodhouse, the author, describes an ongoing controversy while mainly focusing on what is happening at Louisiana State University (LSU). At LSU, the student government decided to increase student fees by $200 to build a giant lazy river in the shape of the letters LSU. This upgrade to their student center (along with a new rock wall and fitness center) will cost the university $85 million. This is small compared to what Ohio State spent to upgrade their student recreation center, which was near $140 million. The controversy arising is whether the universities should be spending all this money on student recreation centers or spending this money on other things, such as research centers.
The Inside Higher Ed piece relates to this article because both deal with student recreation. However, this article discusses student recreation through the environment and the outdoors while the supplemental discusses student recreation through "fun" recreation, like fitness centers, rock walls, lazy rivers, and hot tubs. I believe that both of these things are important to have at a college campus--green space and fun student recreation centers. From what I learned from this article, green space can really help promote holistic learning and mind "relaxation." On the other hand, student recreation centers can create a fun environment and help students relieve stress and relax. In my opinion, universities need to spend money on both of these features to college campuses but need to balance the budget better. Universities can not spend millions on lazy rivers while not putting in near as much to green space. If universities balance their budget more and spend equal amounts on both green space and student recreation centers, the university will hopefully get great feedback and students will be happy and relaxed and become more successful.