About 100 students, including athletes, and University officials braved the cold and snow at Burcham Park to see the beginning steps to building a new boathouse at Friday’s ground-breaking ceremony.

The $6 million boathouse, partially funded through a student athletic fee, will store the 35 boats that belong to the varsity and the men’s and women’s club rowing teams. The building will also feature a locker room for each team, a training area, a study area and a kitchen. Associate athletics director Jim Marchiony said that the goal was to have to boathouse built in a year.

Athletics director Lew Perkins said the chilly Friday was the perfect day for breaking ground because it showed those in attendance the elements the rowers battled at practice.

“For 13 years, our rowers have had to come down here in the snow and the rain and the cold,” Perkins said. “Now everyone knows why they need a boathouse.”

Athletics department and University officials all commended the student body for approving the fee that paid for more than one-third of the boathouse.

“For years, students have offered their support and commitment to student athletes and athletics at KU, and I think today shows that commitment goes further than football tailgates and basketball campouts, but our student body generally cares about the success of all our programs,” said student body vice president Ray Wittlinger.

Chancellor Robert Hemenway said that the student support proved that KU students were part of a supportive community.

Rowing coach Rob Catloth was especially excited that the program he has coached for 13 years would have a new boathouse soon.

“This day is for the over 4,000 Kansas students that have rowed on this river over the past 30 years.”

Club rowing coach Jeremy Struemph shared Catloth’s excitement for the beginning of the project.

“Compared to what we’re coming from — outside with no cover — it’s a big step up for us,” Struemph said.

Struemph also said that the quality of the future boathouse could attract more students to rowing at the University.

Other programs may be able to use the boathouse with permission from Kansas Athletics.

“We’ll entertain a request for other uses for it,” Marchiony said. “We haven’t had any yet, but I think when people see the building, it may lend itself to uses we may not even be aware of.”

Student funding for the boathouse has come under fire recently. Two years ago, students voted for a $15 fee to raise funds for the boathouse. The vote was under scrutiny for a possibly misleading campaigning. Last month, Student Senate’s finance committee failed a bill that would have eliminated the $80 non-revenue athletics fee that in part funded the boathouse. The $15 fee that KU students pay each semester for the boathouse is scheduled to end after the construction of the boathouse is completed.

—Edited by Sasha Roe