It’s your big two-hour gap between your accounting class and your management class, what do you do? Your house is too far to make a trip back, the library seems stuffy, the gym is too crowded and all the food options on campus fast forward your freshman-15. At first glance, it seems that San Diego State is deprived of a central location where students can sit, talk, relax, study and play, but that is all going to change 8212; thanks to you.

By voting “yes” for the ModernSpace referendum tomorrow and Wednesday, you will have the opportunity as an Aztec to put SDSU on the map for having the first student union that is LEED-Platinum 8212; the highest sustainability certification for a building awarded by the U.S. Green Buildings Council 8212; in the world.

Progress isn’t a mere sentiment of adaptation, it’s showing an innate and proactive ability to predict change and prepare to not only confront the challenges that face you, but to rise above them and set an example.

In 1963, students of SDSU approved a mandatory fee to fund the construction of a new student union facility. Five years later, Aztec Center became the first, permanent student union facility ever in the CSU.

For more than four decades, Aztec Center has served as the home of student government, student organizations and clubs, restaurants and recreation. However, the building is now in need of severe upgrades, because it doesn’t meet crucial safety and building codes, and is grossly undersized. With SDSU’s Campus Master Plan set to increase the full-time student population equivalent to 35,000 by 2024, a failed referendum will result only in an old building attempting to keep up with modern times, while failing to serve all the students that work so hard for their share of its use.

Besides new and improved meeting spaces for students and organizations, the building will offer a new satellite fitness center, a 300-seat theater, a new pub-restaurant, new computer lounges and study lounges.

And while the amenities of this new project speak for themselves, the building’s ability to reduce energy consumption by as much as 40 percent through solar panels, a ground heat exchanger, vegetated roof and underground storm water storage shows Associated Students’ commitment to saving both money and the environment.

More than 75 percent of students voted “yes” in 2006 to construct a new student union. That same year, the economy was sent into a wild tailspin, driving costs to an astronomical high and cutting short funding for a new facility.

Many argue that additional fees couldn’t come at a worse time, but the truth is actually the opposite. According to the Turner Construction Company’s Building Cost Index, construction costs in the U.S. have decreased 7.74 percent from the first quarter of 2009 8212; making now an ideal time to spend the money much more feasibly.

A new state-of-the-art student union will produce close to 100 new student jobs thanks to expanded dining services and recreational services, attract high-class athletic recruits, improve the strength of our community and ultimately promote interactivity on a campus that has long been known as a commuter school.

If critics of the project are so concerned with saving money, think about the pure facts: If the referendum doesn’t pass this week, the $44 million collected from the 2006 referendum will still be needed to retrofit the building up to code 8212; a move that will only safeguard the building for the next 20 years. If the referendum passes, a new building will ensure a sustainable building that will last long past 50 years.

Make the call: spend the money now, or make others pay $44 million more 20 years from now 8212; which seems more reasonable and fair to future students?

Voting “yes” this week won’t just galvanize SDSU as a front-runner in progression, but a trendsetter in responsibility. The outcome is in your hands.

8212;Faryar Borhani is a journalism senior.

8212;This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Daily Aztec. Send e-mail to opinion@thedailyaztec.com. Anonymous letters will not be printed. Include your full name, major and year in school.