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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 23, 1997)
T EDITORIAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Steven Asbury MANAGING EDITOR: Thom Schoenbom NIGHT EDITOR: Jennifer Schmitt EDITORIAL EDITORS: Ashley Bach & Brian Diamond .\ r >5 editorials, letters, commentary and perspective NEWSROOM: (541) 346-5511 DISPLAY ADVERTISING: (541)346-3712 BUSINESS OFFICE: (541)346-5512 CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING: (541)346-4343 Serving sports on a silver platter Because sports attract big money, many athletes are able to enjoy privileges that the average student can’t enjoy Last week, I found myself incapaci tated with that fun virus that’s going around. As I laid pathetically on my couch moronically watching MTV, something caught my eye. MTV News, the fine piece of journalism that it is, flashed a graphic of the state of Oregon next to Kurt Loder’s head. Sure enough, the shiny red dot on the state was accompanied by the word “Eu gene.” Loder unenthusiastically announced that the Rolling Stones chose to honor the city of Eugene by scheduling the kickoff concert of their summer tour at Autzen Sta Mcde Kristal dium. However, the offer was declined by the Uni versity, citing schedul ing conflicts with foot ball practice. I don’t know about you guys, but I think that the foot ball team would have been willing to take a few days off. When this story was first publicized earlier this month, I didn’t think it would become national news in any form. Now Eugene has been national ly embarrassed for placing an athletic team’s needs over a legendary rock band that has not played in Oregon since July 21, 1966. The importance of the football team’s practice has been valued at over $150,000 — the estimated revenue the concert would have drawn. But for students who attend the University, this is not the first time they’ve witnessed the needs of the football team and the athletic department prioritized above themselves and other University programs. Athletes receive free tutoring from the Center for Student Athletes Academic Ad vising located in Mac Court. Ordinary stu dents pay. Athletes on scholarship receive the best housing on campus — the University Inn. Football players stay at the Red Lion on the nights before football games — in Eu gene. And football players used to eat for free at Hammy’s until they began abusing the priv ilege by bringing in their friends for free food. The average student like myself sees these privileges and feels unimportant and under valued. I don’t attend basketball or football games, yet my incidental fee gives other stu dents the opportunity to attend the games for “free.” I cannot control how the University spends my tuition money. And until I did research for this story, I assumed a ton of my tuition money went to the sports program, especially football. However, I made a false assumption. You can’t blame me. After all, I certainly didn’t see my money fixing the parking problem, so it must be going to sports. Wrong. Surprisingly enough, I only unintention ally donate $66 through my incidental fee to every non-revenue sport per year. (Men’s basketball and football are excluded from this category because they are revenue sports.) Therefore, I could be paying for a softball player’s uniform or a golfer’s books — but not a football player’s helmet. I definitely do not pay for the nights the football team spends in the Red Lion. According to Jamie Klund, sports infor mation director, the University sports pro gram is self-sufficient. The sports program pays for these luxuries and privileges. Given the value society places on sports, the ath letic department would be the only self-suf ficient program on campus. A successful sports program is equated with prestige. A better sports team equals a better school. Or at least, this is the myth. Thus, a winning sports program attracts stu dents to the University and large monetary donations. After the Ducks played in the Rose Bowl in 1994, donations skyrocketed. (Until Phil Knight donated $1 million for the Universi ty President’s salary, the salary of Jerry CHRIS HUTCHINSON/Smerald Green, the former men’s basketball coach, was $20,000 more than President Frohn mayer’s salary.) The University definitely has its priori ties. Unfortunately, the University cannot afford to prioritize my education. In my computer science class, the University has licensed so few copies of Windows ’95 and Adobe Photoshop that a class of 20 students cannot all simultaneously use the same ap plication to learn the program. Maybe some day the donations the University receives for its successful sports teams will actually be used to satisfy long-standing student de mands. Nicole Kristal, a sophomore majoring in journalism, is a columnist for the Emerald Her views do not necessarily represent those of the paper. WINNERS Ellen DeGeneres The newly outed actress and come dienne is the new focus of Holly wood buzz and pop culture. Newt Gingrich The Republican Speaker of the House slith ered his way out of another scandal by ac cepting a $300,000 loan last week from Bob Dole. Jermaine O'Neal The 18-year-old rookie forward for the Blaz ers was the subject of a gigantic three-part series in The Oregonian this week. Timothy Leary The cremated remains of the recently de ceased LSD advocate were launched into space according to his wishes on Monday. Benjamin Netanyahu The Israeli Prime Minister narrowly es caped indictment for influence-peddling but is still under in tense scrutiny. U.S. Air Force The wreckage of a missing A-10 jet has re portedly been found in Colorado but the question still remains: How could this ever happen? London Residents of the British capital are under siege after a series of bomb threats and scares by Irish terrorists. North Dakota & Minnesota Record flooding is causing thousands of residents of the two states to evacuate. LETTERS Irrelevant rhetoric Mr. Johnson’s displeasure with the Emerald presidential endorsement (April 17, ODE), while mildly satisfying to the rest of us, is irrelevant to this election. Your sole duty as a student and a leader is to vote the way you feel and not to sway the voters one way or another. This attempt at retribution is not only too late, it’s too bad. If for once, Mr. John son, you would fess up your position as a member of student government who is not exactly known for intellectual prowess, you might give students a fair view of what your letter really means. Contrary to popular belief, the Commen tator does not serve any function other than an outlet for ideas that are not ex pressed in any other form of campus me dia. The idea that we plant writers in stu dent government or the mainstream media is absurd, albeit flattering. The members of the Emerald editorial board expressed an opinion that was clear ly not unanimous, nor was it a happy one. The editorial containing the endorsement was littered with sentiments that might keep the most forthright student away from the polls. The idea that the Commentator is a waste of student money is a particularly repugnant sentiment, given that the Senate voted to approve more money than they were asked to approve for the now infa mous amphitheater. Your cute use of punctuation in an at tempt to delegitimize the editorials fell short it its goal, as did the idea that they end in juvenile allusions to drinking or bad sex. For your information, at the Com mentator there are only two kinds of sex, the really good kind and the kind you don’t remember. Farrah L. Bostic Oregon Commentator Publisher
