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Editor:
This letter is addressed to anyone who sets policy in the athletic department. Last week I went to the Memorial Student Union and signed up for the basketball lottery. After swiping my ID card through her machine, the athletic department employee informed me that since I am only paying for six units, the athletic department considers me to be a part-time student, and therefore, if I was to win in the season ticket lottery (or get tickets to any other sporting event), I'd have to pay an additional $18 on top of the usual fee. Thus, I would have to pay $42 and $42 for a guest while those with seven units or more would pay $24 and $24 for a guest.
When I explained to the woman that I'm an English department GAT and I teach two composition courses, which gives me full-time status in the eyes of my department and the university's Financial Aid Office, she said it didn't matter, the athletic department has its own criteria. She explained that the additional moneys are for the "activity fee" that goes to the athletic department; a fee all students with seven or fewer units are required to pay.
Would someone in the athletic department please take the time to explain their polices re:
1) Why the Athletic Department has the power to label English department GATs as part-time students when our own academic department classifies us as full-time;
2) Why students even pay an "activity fee" to the athletic department. Non-athletes certainly can't use McKale Center like the Student Recreation Center. Is "activity fee" really a codeword for "subsidy?" And if so, why does a department that makes millions of dollars in merchandise, ticket, and broadcasting/advertising sales need student subsidies?;
3) Wouldn't it make more sense to directly subsidize other departments, like the Main Library, which, ironically, recently raffled off basketball tickets to raise funds?
I'd appreciate any response to, or clarification of, these questions. Thank you for your time.
Lisa-Anne Culp
Ph.D. Candidate
Rhetoric, Composition and the Teaching of English
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