Sabrina Noble Columnist

For years, UA students have complained that they don't get enough seating in McKale. "I've been paying tuition for four years, and I've never gotten to see a game," they whine. "All I ever get to do is watch the fans hobble away to their Mercedes SUVs after the games, their khakis wrinkled from long hours of sitting."

I hate to say it, but the alumni are right: Students don't automatically have the right to see basketball games just because they attend this school. Alumni pay good money - tens of thousands of dollars - to attend our premiere team's games. If we students don't work to save up tens of thousands of dollars to contribute to the athletics program, then clearly, we just don't deserve seats at all.

It's a shame, really. This generation seems to think basketball is a game, not a business. We traipse all over campus like we own the place. Well, just because we're paying tuition doesn't mean we shouldn't pay respect to the alumni. When alumni want to build memorials to themselves, students shouldn't complain that their quiet learning environment is being disturbed by jackhammers and bulldozers. If alumni were to decide next week they'd like to turn the Education building into a private club, students would have to recognize the great disparity in their contributions (our meager tuition versus alumni's multi-million dollar donations) and evacuate immediately, helpfully taking their desks with them, if possible.

When alumni want to build memorials to themselves, students shouldn't complain that their quiet learning environment is being disturbed by jackhammers and bulldozers.

It's just ridiculous what students think they can get away with. After attending a game last weekend, I saw firsthand why alumni would like to eliminate the student section entirely. The way we were clapping and jumping up and down, you'd think we were a gang of crazed children. Any larger an assembly and there would have been mass cheering, practically disabling the players on the court. Students fail to realize what alumni have learned through hard-earned experience: Basketball is best played in silence, watched from soft chairs. When students stand up, they make a better door than a window. And when they shout incessantly, they create an unbearable draft and a bothersome ringing in the ears. Students, I ask you: When will you ever learn not to speak unless spoken to? Frankly, your sophomoric behavior that night embarrassed me, and you should all be ashamed of yourselves.

Yes, Guy With The Body Paint, I'm talking to you. The same thing goes to every prankster who shouted, "Go Wildcats!" You know who you are.

Students' militant demand for basketball seats amounts to little more than back talk, illustrating how little respect we have for our ever-grasping elders. Obviously, the age-old proverb is true of students: You give 'em an inch, they take a mile. We students are lucky to have any section at all, and even luckier they let us buy the same food that top-contributing alumni get to eat. We shouldn't get the same-size nachos and drinks that alumni get just because we're students, but we do. Unless we are paying for priority seats, we should expect little better than "student-sized" products - or perhaps even leftovers from the alumni sections. And yet, we've been offered the privilege of using the same concession stands as priority-seated alumni. But do students ever bother to voice their thanks for that? No. No we do not.

Finally, students are blowing the situation out of proportion when we say we're shut out of the action; if we'd pay attention, we'd notice that the cheerleaders, Wilbur and the basketball team itself are composed entirely of current UA students. Not only are we represented, but we're also in the spotlight.

In fact, if anything's unfair, this is - these students are courtside or even on court without paying a dime, aside from countless hours spent training and practicing. Basketball players, because of scholarships from the alumni, get to attend each game for free ... while alumni pay huge sums for seats that aren't nearly as good and are sometimes blocked by the cheerleaders or players themselves. For a higher donation, alumni should be allowed to play alongside student-athletes; their names and positions could be selected from a lottery system to play during either the first or second half.

I only hope my fellow students can be mature enough to see how much fairer this would be for everyone, but especially for our selflessly giving alumni.

Sabrina Noble is a senior majoring in English and creative writing who saw her first basketball game last weekend. She can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.