After the ripple that was created around the news that Legion Pool was to be no more, one Red and Black columnist offers their two-cents on how to right the wrongs that have been purportedly taking place there for years now:

In March 2026, the University of Georgia began demolition on the historic Legion Pool. A working group tasked on Jan. 15, 2025 by President Jere Morehead, Vice President for Student Affairs Michelle Cook, and Vice President for Finance and Administration Ryan Nesbit, and chaired by Dean of Students Eric Atkinson determined that the pool leaks, would require costly repairs and attracts less and less visitors. The working group decided that the only feasible way forward was to demolish the Legion Pool entirely, replacing it with parking lots and extending the neighboring Legion Field, which will be upgraded into a central meeting place for students.

The planned demolition was met with opposition both at UGA and in Athens. A main contra argument was that demolishing Legion Pool, a recreational facility of some historic value, to add, what was, 70 parking spots to UGA’s existing approximate 21,000 regular spots is a bad deal. The West Campus Parking Deck II, located about 750 feet from Legion Pool, opened in 2025 and provides more than 1,100 spots. Several nearby green spaces would have offered ample opportunity to build additional parking. In contrast, Legion Pool, with its shaded terrasse, historic bath house and multi-usage pool open to the public, erases not just greenery but a community source with rich history. Future students might regret UGA’s rushed decision to demolish an outdoor pool and wonder why nearly all of UGA’s peer institutions, the other colleges in the SEC, and almost all state-flagship institutions in warm-weather U.S. states have outdoor pools for student use. Oddly, the demolition of Legion Pool and the other nearby outdoor sport facilities on campus is communicated to the UGA community as student wellness measures and an effort to increase sustainability. 

Regardless, with Legion Pool demolished, this debate can stop, as now is the time to look forward and ensure this central piece of campus will indeed serve our students best. It was later announced that some of the area will be used for sand volleyball courts and less of it for parking. This is good news and a first step to correct the often bleak appearance of UGA’s campus. In other good news, UGA agreed to provide an appropriately-sized temporary, or mobile, stage for student usage and events since the new Legion Field will no longer have a permanent stage.

Further, UGA committed to reserve the initial 70 parking spaces at Legion Field for our students. Since the revised plans will add just 20 new spaces, an additional 50 parking spaces of the current Legion Lot should be reassigned for student usage.

Students should receive top priority reservation rights for the new Legion Field complex, including on game day weekends. In correspondence provided to by the Tate Student Center, from Jan. 1 to Nov. 5, 2025 UGA’s more than 850 student organizations combined used it for 12 events, all UGA departments together for four events, and the UGA Athletic Association, or the UGAAA, for five multiday events around home game weekends.

It is difficult to comprehend how the new Legion Field will serve the students when they are barred from using it during the most important events on UGA’s calendar. In the past, I remember student organizations who regularly used the field on Fridays before home games for music events. However, in recent years, student organizations have been effectively booted out by the UGAAA, which uses the field for multi-day stretches around game weekends to host pre-game events for VIPs and corporate sponsors. These events often involve alcohol advertised on widely visible banners right in the middle of UGA’s main undergraduate housing area. To remain convincing with its strict stance on alcohol consumption on campus, President Morehead should ban all advertisements for alcoholic beverages on campus, but for Sanford Stadium and select UGAAA facilities.

UGA’s guidelines for the usage of student activity fees are clear: “Students are the only beneficiaries of this fee.” Nevertheless, UGA used several hundred thousands of dollars in these fees to operate a pool that students by-and-large were prevented from enjoying since the administration kept it closed but for a few weeks during the summer.

One starts to wonder whether this entire maneuver of letting students pay for, but not use, the pool, and the subsequent indignation about this unfairness, was a smoke screen to demolish Legion Pool. It ostensibly gives over this piece of our campus to the UGAAA as a zone for alcohol-fueled parties and corporate donor events, all while stripping UGA and the community of a beautiful outdoor aquatic facility.

The core of Athens disappearing to corporate greed? It’s not just Athens, it’s college football, it’s the world we know, it’s everywhere…remember when…

Memories…