By
Extortion of the students
Before I begin my final rant of the semester, it should be noted that this column is being written by a sports fan, and more importantly, by an extremely rabid University of Louisville fan.
Now, having said that, I am outraged that the University Financial Committee, on the advice of one departing Dr. John Shumaker, has decided to recommend a $250 annual “athletic fee” on each member of the student body. (As of press time, the Board of Trustees had not voted on this proposal, so if they decide to vote “nay,” then this is all just a bunch of unnecessary malarkey anyway.)
It should not be the responsibility of the students at this university who seek nothing more than a college education to pay the bills of our free-spending Athletic Department.
Once a student is an alumnus, and chooses to pay the Cardinal Athletic Fund’s annual dues, fine. But if a student at U of L doesn’t give a bag of donkey puck about sports, and couldn’t tell Reece Gaines from Reese Witherspoon, why should he or she have to pony up 125 fish each semester?
Furthermore, what about the student athletes?
Should they have to give money in support of themselves? That seems a bit counter productive, doesn’t it?
Why should the students be taxed so excessively? One-hundred and twenty-five dollars is a semester’s worth of groceries, or in my case (where two in my household go to school full time), that’s 250 bills perannum, which is almost as much as my mortgage payment! (And I didn’t even get frickin’ basketball OR football tickets!)
Why not go to the high rolling big money donors that idly occupy the best seats in Freedom Hall during the winter?
You know, the ones who sit on their hands during basketball games and leave early in the second half to avoid the headache of Ring Road traffic?
Surely it can’t hurt the fat wallets of those folks who already shell out thousands for the privilege to sit courtside and (not) cheer during basketball games.
Aren’t they more likely to afford an extra 250 bones than students whose diets consist of ramen noodles and 99-cent cheeseburgers?
(And who, by the way, occupy one end zone section of the lower level on Freedom Hall, or about 1/50th of its total seats.)
And what happened to the $25 million in cash reserve the athletic department had “saved for emergencies” that was talked about when Coach Denny Crum got canned, err, sorry, when Coach Crum retired?
Guess the bulk of that got spent (or is getting spent) on the huge salaries of two coaches, or maybe on the higher than expected cost of operating Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium.
And what’s even more astounding about this whole situation is the athletic department continues to spend!
Never mind these red numbers on the books, we need the following: a new baseball facility (which is sorely needed), a natatorium (also needed), new basketball arena, and indoor football practice facility, etc. etc.
Growth is tremendous, and exciting, but it should be tempered unless it is financially feasible for the university.
SGA President Carlton Brown organized a student march in protest of this fee on Monday, and although his intentions are most noble, I find it hard to believe that the Board of Trustees will have voted no to this decision.
Money talks in our society, and if the power brokers of this school want to tax us, they’ll tax us.
Even if some students don’t know Luke Whitehead from Luke Skywalker.
Eric Groves is a junior English major and columnist for The Cardinal. Contact:
eric_groves@
louisvillecardinal.com
