I'm part of the Facebook group that drafted the petition and is trying to save the IU XC course. If you have ever seen or run on the course, you know how amazing of a resource it is. It's one of the best facilities I've ever run on (first time at the Big 10 Championships in 2006), and I've been lucky enough to train on it for most of the last 10 years. If you would be willing to help us fight to save it by joining the Facebook group (
https://www.facebook.com/groups/friendsofIUXC
) and signing the petition (and sharing with other runners/supporters!), that would be incredible. Petition link to share:
To clarify a couple of things: IU and IU Health have not engaged in a meaningful public planning process on this. It has been conducted almost entirely behind closed doors. Public engagement has been limited to PR, not any sort of real engagement. Believe me, many local runners have been trying to learn more about this since 2016. We were told for a long time that the course would be wholly preserved. That turned out to be a blatant falsehood. Recently, at a public open house in December (not public outreach, but just a sort of pseudo-Q&A), we continued to get non-committal answers and obfuscation from IU Health.
We were also told that plans were "40% complete." They have only put fences up blocking off the course in the last two months. And breaking ground on the hospital itself certainly does not foreclose the possibility of adding a parking garage and choosing not to destroy the XC course for golf course expansion/redesign. We need to make them realize just how drastically they are undervaluing the course as a public, preventive health resource. Signatures and comments are the way we can try to do that. We sent out a press release to media outlets yesterday and are getting a lot of traction. Multiple stories will be coming out in the next few days.
Please help us #saveIUXC!
Thanks,
Matt