In 1964, President Maucker appeared before the Cedar Falls Chamber of Commerce. At this meeting he said he felt the University didn't need a "single auditorium but several different types of facilities to suit specialized needs."1 During the meeting he brought up an idea of building four different buildings for the university and the community of Cedar Falls. The proposed buildings consisted of an education center, a small theater, a field house, and an auditorium. The talks at this meeting got the idea rolling that UNI needed these new facilities. The meeting that night was the first step in forming the eventual capital fund drive.
The idea for new facilities was quiet for a few years, until 1967, when the talks for the new facilities started to pick up again. In 1967 President Maucker formed a committee to look into "Auditoria Needs."2 The committee came up with three different types of auditoriums that would be very useful to the University of Northern Iowa. The first of the three auditoriums was a coliseum or arena that would have a capacity of 12,000 people. The next type of auditorium was a regular auditorium that seated 2,000 people. The last of the three buildings was a small theater unit.
