Libraries and athletes
I was surprised and rather disappointed by the editorial comments in Monday’s issue of The Statesman. Give thanks to the athletes for doing what they love doing anyway? This is a university, an institution of higher learning. That’s why most of us are here. I do not pay my tuition simply to get season tickets to some athletic events. According to an article in the same Statesman issue, our libraries are sorely lacking in funding. Which causes me to wonder why $49.25 of my student fees are going to university sports programs and only $11.00 toward libraries. Perhaps it’s just me, but that just doesn’t seem right. Entertainment is nice, but I doubt that there are many people out there who honestly believe that the efforts of our athletic teams will one day help us all to become productive members of society. At least I hope nobody believes that. Something is seriously wrong when universities, supposedly bastions of intellectual pursuits, are handing out “scholarships” to those with no scholarly history or ambitions, while thousands of those more academically gifted but less athletic are forced to work menial jobs in order to attend school. I have nothing against those who use their athletic ability to attend school and better themselves, but I have had classes with more than a few students on athletic “scholarships” who are ungrateful for the opportunity given to them and who merely use the classroom as a place to rest between practices. Those students have no right to be here. I refuse to say “Thanks” to any athlete attending this university on scholarship. The tuition and fees paid by myself and the thousands of other students working our way through school and providing money for the athletes to attend school and hopefully better themselves should be all the thanks they need.