Should Clyde Williams Field be torn up in favor of new tennis and volleyball courts?

Union Drive Association residents say no.

University officials are looking into it.

Kathy Brown, campus planner, said the idea is being considered because the tennis courts and volleyball courts behind Beyer Hall will be torn down when construction begins for the new Engineering Teaching and Research Complex.

The complex, a set of buildings being constructed to help establish Iowa State as one of the premier engineering schools in the country, will be located north of Beyer Hall. It will replace Engineering Hall, the Engineering Research Institute and the Engineering Annex.

“We met with the students, and we are taking their input into consideration,” Brown said. “It was an idea.” University officials have not met formally with UDA residents as a group.

And many feel it is unfair to gut the field.

“A lot of people on my floor don’t want to see it torn up,” said Mike Davis, a senior in mechanical engineering. “It’s nice to have a large field at our disposal.”

Davis said students think it is a shame to tear up a field with such a history. Clyde Williams Field, although the stands no longer exist, was the ISU football field prior the construction of Cyclone Stadium/Jack Trice Field.

Brandii Pickering, a sophomore in education, said the field and surrounding track are utilized by many students.

“We’d be losing not only a historical area, but one of our only places for recreation,” she said.

“I could understand the reconstruction if no one was using it now,” added Theresa Harper, a freshman in child development.

Davis said UDA residents are confused about why the university cannot find a different location away from central campus for the courts.

Brown said because of the sensitivity of the issue, a planning committee is discussing other possible locations.

Rick Fox, a landscape architect with Facilities Planning and Management, said right now the university is focusing on the restoration of the P.E. Building tennis courts.

Brown said during the P.E. Building tennis court refurbishment, ongoing discussion sessions will be held about the possible construction at the Clyde William’s field site.

There is no deadline for a decision.

“We don’t have a clear direction,” Brown said. “We are collecting more information and are trying to meet the needs of everyone.”

University officials have said they are committed to finding a new home for the and volleyball courts.