The editorial “All or nothing” (Sept. 10) referring to Student Council’s proposed resolution supporting graduate students’ efforts to receive some benefit from the fees they pay seems to make several points worth further discussion.
The editorial makes the point that we do get access to non-revenue generating sports like softball, tennis or track. These sports are actually free to the public, therefore access to these sports is not a benefit the athletic department is giving. Some other sports like soccer and lacrosse grant graduate students access only because they don’t have technology to distinguish between which student has paid what fee.
A system to limit access to events already exists at the University in the form of Arts Dollars. Every student can access musical concerts and the like up to a limit determined by how many arts dollars they have. It seems to me a similar system could be implemented without undue expense.
The athletic department takes of the order of $200,000 per year from graduate departments and students and gives no tangible benefit in return. Of nine other ACC schools Graduate Student Council could find information about, none had a policy like ours. I understand that the athletic department just acquired a $750,000 laser system for use in John Paul Jones Arena. At least it sounds like they use money wisely over there.
John Burke
GSAS
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