Editors not?: The following article
is the first of a tfcrw part series on
the expenditure of incidental for
monry on a thirties in Lhr University .
Last year 20 per cent of the ASUO
incidental fee budget was spent an
sports programs, supposedly for the
benefit of students Where this
money is spent should be of vital
By I AIN MORE
J- or the Emerald
interest Unfortunately, not enough
students have critically analyzed
what their money was being spent
for. and as a result, practices and
policies that do not reflect the
students' interests have been im
plemented and continued without
being challenged The purpose of
this series is to begin the
examination necessary to thoughtful
judgment on the expenditure of so
much of the students funds
There are five main sports
programs at the University: The
Athletic Department, the Club
Sports Program, the Womens
Recreation Association, the In
termural Program and the Outdoor
Program An evaluation of these
programs and their level of funding
will show the sorts of imbalances
that exist, and what kinds of
alternatives there are for correcting
them
The Athletic Department at the
present time takes approximately 86
per cent of the $257,000 that the
ASUO gives to the five campus
sports programs This year, the
Athletic Department is requesting
what amounts to an eighty per cent
increase over the $211,000 they
received last year, for a grand total
budget request of $375,000 No other
sports program has made such a
request for increased funding in
years
Athletics • . •
What are we always
paying money for?
It is not difficult to understand the
reasons behind the request The
costs of intercollegiate athletics has
increased in the nation by more than
100 per cent over the past ten years
And. while costs are going up
and up. a Gallup Poll taken this
year shows a serious decline in in
terest in such programs
“Of the students surveyed, 43 per
cent felt that student concern over
intercollegiate athletics was
definitely on the wane More im
port ant than these figures is the fact
that while during the past twenty
years student enrollment in colleges
and universities has increased more
than eighty per cent, there has been
only an eighteen per cent increase in
collegiate football attendance
For example, in 1948, 83 per cent of
the undergraduates at the
University of Southern California
attended football games, but by 1962,
only 51 per cent did so
An indication of the things to come
in the use of student fee money for
support of intercollegiate athletics
came this year at the University of
California at Berkeley The students
cut off the compulsory fee to the
athletic department there, and
reallocated the $310,000 total "in a
manner more broadly represen
tative of student needs ”
And the wind? of change are
blowing nationwide The University
of Buffalo has recently dropped its
football program because of the
heavy expense and a growing lack of
student interest The Universities of
Chicago and Denver have dropped
intercollegiate athletics altogether
The clearest sign for the future is the
consistent trend on new campuses to
not even begin intercollegiate
programs
But if attendence us down while
costs an* up. and schools an* either
dnipping or refusing to start such
programs because they serve less
and less the serious needs of
students, why is it that so many
athletic departments an* still in
operationThe answer is that in one
important sense, athletics at the
college level is a big business And
students have for years been
stockholders in the firm, although
they don't often get a voice in the
direction the business is taking
The University's Athletic
Department is a clear example of
this relationship The students,
thmugh their contnbutions in in
cidental fees. are major stock
holders And as this is the case, it is
interesting to examine the depart
ment on a cost benefit hasis
In the first place, the students
have for years been the consistent
suppliers of new capital for what is a
speculative venture The amount of
money the department receives
from alumni donors fluctuates
widely from year to year In 19*5-66.
alumni contributed 1*5,000 In 19*7
0*. it went up to $1*5,000, and
dropped last year to $130,000
Student support on the either hand,
has increased every year from 19*4
when the investment was $162,000, to
i960 70 w hen the students chipped in
$258,000
Thus, the important question of
the return on the students' large
investment should tie an important
one what have we gotten'1 This us
certainly difficult to evaluate, mil it
is clear that Students have not come
away the big winners Those who
really gain are the highly paid
professional players, for whom the
students maintain a farm club
system, the general public, which
demands this sort of entertainment,
and the televisual networks, which
make large profits selling com
morcials sandwiched in between
plays
And if this is the case, why do the
students continue to make mereased
contributions of capital to the
Athletic Department’
The answer, in the main, is tin
fact that students have little or no
control over how the Athletic
Department spends its money, and
the goals the Athletic Department is
trying to reach
Tomorow The Athletic Depart
ment and the Nl’AA, Autien
Stadium, and alternative methods of
funding
Penn mentor to replace
Belko as basketball coach
Sieve Belko tin- University's durable and
sometimes eonlroversi.il basketball coach has
announced his retirement from coaching
University Athletic Director Norv Ritchey said
Tuesday that Belko will step down as head
basketball coach to assume duties as an assistant
athletic director at the University
Dick Harter, head coach at the University of
Pennsylvania, and rated one of the top young
coaches in the country, was named to succeed Belko
late Tuesday afternoon
Harter has coached for si* years, five at Penn,
and owns a 104 S3 overall record His last two teams
have sustained 2S 2 and 28 1 records, were Ivy
league champions, and NCAA regional finalists
Belko w ho has been coaching for 21 yean. IS at
Oregon, owns a 179 211 record at the University,
including two teams which he took to the NCAA
playoffs <1959-60 and 1960-6H
His teams have pasted identical 17 9 records the
last two yean, finishing third and fourth respec
tively in the rugged Pack conference
Belko serving as first vice president of the
National Basketball Coaches Association, is
currently attending the convention of that group in
Springfield. Mass and was unavailable for com
ment
Harter will be bringing two of his assistant
coaches at Penn with him Dick Stewart and Ray
Kdrlman apparently will both hold assistant
coaching positions at the University
Harter's appointment and the inclusion of two
assistant coaches in the package brought ira
mediate comment from ASUO president Hon
Kachus
‘ This is exactly the way students get trapp**d
into continually funding the Athletic Department at
a disproportionate level with other departments,”
Kachus said "At the same time we are asked to set
guidelines for change and make consistent con
tracts, they (the Athletic Department) make
contracts increasing their staff and committments
without consulting us
‘ The inc rease's are obvious, at least there's an
increase* of one staff member with keeping Helko
and hiring a new coach that means an additional
staff salary If we find out that the new coach is
getting a greater salary and he's bringing in other
assistants, that means far greater increases.''
Contacted at his home Tuesday night. Athietic
Director Ritchey expressed surprise at Kachus’
charges
•‘I would like to express surprise and dismay at
Hon s statements I’ve constantly emphasized that
the prime reason that we as an athletic department
and inter collegiate athletics, exist, is for the
benefit of ail students and the general University
community "
While Ritchey declined to discuss specific
provisions in the department budget which would
allow for new hirings, he did indicate full disclosure
would be made next week when the athlrtic
department's budget goes before the ASUO Fiscal
Committee for a complete hearing
See related slartes mm f* ge 14.
IMrk llirtrr
Sieve tlelkn
Student union slates
peace week activities
H> NAN IIKNDFKSON
Ol the Kmrrsld
Plans for a "massive peace rally involving a* many and war
group* a» possible" were finalized at a Tuesday night meeting of thr
Student Union
The rally is scheduled for Friday, April 23 at 8 p m in 13* Com
monwealth A dance on 13th Ave will follow the rally
'The purpoae of the rally is to explain the strategy for all of the
spring anti war activities, especially those revolving around May Day
and in support of the People’s Peace Treaty," explained Steve
Thomasburger. one of the rally coordinators *’We hope that at least
MO people will attend," he added
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