Letter: KU shouldn't rely on athletic funds
Just because the University could theoretically be funded by athletics doesn't mean it's a good idea.
Tuesday, September 9th, 2008
Kansas Athletics could finance the University of Kansas. But should it?
The answer is no. I know many of you are furious over a $40 fee, but KU Athletics does a lot for Kansas.
Around the country, the athletics department is the doorstop for the University. The Southern Economic Journal reported this year about the “Flutie Effect” -- which describes increased enrollment for universities that do well in athletics (Look up Doug Flutie in 1984 on YouTube). The study shows that increases from 3 to 8 percent in enrollment occurred on campuses of colleges that did well in the NCAA basketball tournament. KU won the national championship last year. It wasn’t a surprise for me to see increased students on campus this year.
Students think that the $31 million football complex on the hill was built using public dollars. The money was private dollars primarily donated by the Kivisto and Anderson families. Those $90,000 trees that were planted by the athletics department were also funded entirely by private dollars.
Donors tell the University or the athletics department where that money should go. They don’t disrespect their wishes. The Kivistos and Andersons decided it would go to a football complex; not towards University budgets.
The main issue with students is that miniscule $40 student fee. Fifteen of those dollars go to the new boathouse for the Kansas rowing team. It will be predominately used by the Kansas Athletics rowing team, but also by the club rowing teams. The other part is the women’s and non-revenue sports fee, which many universities have. Many of those dollars go to scholarships for athletes and some even goes back to non-athletes.
Students get a bargain for the sports here at KU. 2007-08 was the single greatest sport year for KU ever. Would you really have complained if you paid $300 or even more to go to those games last year? I surely wouldn’t have.
For those who are angry about the whistle ceasing to exist on campus, please note that alumni may step up and donate that $3,000 to operate the whistle. Perhaps the science department can find an energy efficient whistle that doesn’t use natural gas to create the steam.
So here’s the bottom line students: stop complaining. Many of you are getting an incredible bargain for the quality of teams being fielded at the University of Kansas. As an out-of-state student, I’m paying more than double the amount you are for tuition here at Kansas. An extra $40 isn’t going to hurt you.
— — Joe Davis, Coventry, Conn., junior in sports management
Discussion
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You're right about the donors- they give money for specific projects. Surely they could send some more dollars to the university itself, not to a latte machine that the basketball team will never use in the lobby. I think our Endowment could do a little more work to try and get some more money to keep my tuition down...
As for the $40 fee...it should be part of the sports package fee. I'm never going to use the boat house, I'm not a rower so I can't really use it. The rest of the fee, used for non-revenue and women's sports isn't a bad idea, but nobody really uses it. Most people don't know that you can go see a women's volleyball for free or go watch a baseball game for free.
And finally, I think many people are "complaining" because we didn't come here for sports. Our tuition is increasing every year, the board of regents cut our budget, and our buildings are falling apart. Of course we are going to target the one thing that is doing well on campus- athletics. If only our university was sharing in their financial success...
The roll of endowments and private donations are not to keep your tuition down or have any effect on it at all. This is a public university that relies on public dollars (taxes). If you want endowments to influence tution, its a private university you want.
If we are not a private university, then why is our Endowment so large? what does that money go to? Why are our buildings crumbling, and when we want building improvements and maintenance done, or new facilities for learning, why does the university ask the students for more money? Why does the Athletics department come to us and ask us for money for a boathouse that I can't use? I want answers to these questions, and perhaps the Endowment/rich alumni is a way to pay for these building improvements and service improvements so that my tuition dollars aren't raised. We do go to a public university, but many projects on campus are privately financed.
Kivisto is broke. That news came out a couple of months ago, and the only thing the athletics department is saying about that Mr. Kivisto is on schedule with the donations he promised. As of July 29th he had come through with 12 million of the 40 or so he had promised. He had creditors lined up out his door to the tune of 2.4 BILLION dollars, so by my best guess, the athletics department is out the rest of it. As for Anderson, no commitment has been made from him for the remainder.
I don't have a problem with people donating money for specific projects on campus, but its the fact that the complex was built before the money came in that bothers me. By my best calculations the athletics department is still short a good chunk of the money they shelled out on the football complex (which isn't even being used right now, but that's another rant), and I'm convinced as students we haven't seen the end of these tuition increases so cleverly labeled as "student fees." When I want to join the rowing team or play football, I'll be more than happy to pony up an extra forty bucks.
Miniscule $40 fee? I'll take it from you since you seem to think it is so tiny. And the sob story about out of state tuition doesn't make any point either. You are a junior, if you had stayed a couple of summers in Lawrence or Kansas you could be paying in-state.
I agree that we shouldn't rely on the athletics department for money, but they shouldn't rely on our fee either. I could use that miniscule $40 to pay off some debts.
Please explain to me how the football facility isn't being used...
Not everybody likes sports. You don't seem to recognize this point.
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