Students tired of walking on an academic tightrope may have a chance to walk on an actual tightrope.

The Student Recreation Center is exploring the possibility of adding a rope course to its program. However, the Rec isn’t getting ahead of itself. Officials will explore student and faculty interest for a $2,000 kit that includes several items for team-building programs.

The $2,000 was approved by the Finance and Facilities office.

Dan Swan, manager of the Outing Centre, hopes to replicate the success of other schools’ similar programs.

“What we are looking for is to find programming that can be provided to the students,” he said. “I sat there and looked at what is missing at the university. A lot of classes have team -building and group initiatives, but they only do it a little bit and only work in their department. I do know of other college programs like Western and DePaul that have team-building programs that they offer to the community, and I thought that might be a good match with the outdoor program.”

John Sweeney, director of the Office of Campus Recreation, said the interest is there.

“There’s still a great interest in those kinds of challenges, and a low rope course provides different exercise drill opportunities and unique challenges that are low-risk,” he said. “It also provides team-building opportunities, and we can make this be invaluable around campus. Be it a UNIV class or a residence hall floor, we really think that it would benefit the students and make them a tighter group.”

Adding a rope course is much more plausible than a climbing wall, Sweeney said.

“There has been quite a bit of talk over the years of including a climbing wall in either this facility or another facility, like the fieldhouse that we are in the process of renovating,” he said. “Because of liability concerns, we have been unable to go forth with that kind of building project.”

Swan said the kit will make for a much more enjoyable educational experience.

“Frequently, you have people in a classroom and no one talks and no one participates,” he said. “If you are in a classroom, do you like listening to the professor and just hearing a person talk about something? Or would you rather see a video of people doing things? Wouldn’t you rather be doing something?”

Swan said the team-building program using the kit is likely to debut next spring. At that time, anyone interested is encouraged to give the office a call. However, an actual rope course still is far in the future, with one tentatively scheduled to appear next year.

“You don’t make a big expenditure without developing a following,” he said. “What you want to do is see what you can do to improve the program and then take the next step.”