Student seeks to boycott UA items to protest Final Four ticket policy

This letter is based on the assumption that the Daily Wildcat's information regarding the university's decision to allocate only 350 of the 3,500 tickets to the Final Four basketball game in Indianapolis to students (the least of all Final Four teams) is accurate. I have no reason to believe otherwise because this action is consistent with this university's record of shortchanging its students for its own financial gain. Regardless of how the Wildcats finish in the tournament, we can all take pride in the knowledge that our university sold out its students to the greatest degree of all the Final Four teams.

I will not whine about how the university is undermining school pride. There is no rule requiring the university to act in the interests of its students rather than as the coldhearted corporate entity that it is. Pleas to act for the sake of school pride will obviously fall upon deaf ears, since the university has already made it clear that such matters are trivial in comparison to monetary issues. My personal form of protest will be targeted at the only thing that seems to matter to the university, money. I will go out of my way to avoid buying any merchandise that bears the University of Arizona logo. The protest is based on the idea that if the university refuses to acknowledge the contributions of its students, the students have no reason to continue contributing to it.

I realize that this small act will have no impact in the greater scheme of things. This school has a lot of pride, and its students will continue to support its teams despite the university's seemingly conflicting actions. However, it is the only way I can think of to express my dissatisfaction with the university's apathy toward its students. It is disappointing that this university is creating a chasm between the basketball team and its loyal fans.

By Andrew McClory (letter)
Arizona Daily Wildcat
April 3, 1997