2008 Woodie Awards
Students may have to pay $75 athletic fee
Mark Brislin
Issue date: 11/21/07 Section: News
A proposal has been made for a $75 athletic fee that would be included the tuitions of all University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa undergraduates each semester at the disposal of the UH athletic department.
Matthew Gerhardt, the athletic advisory board representative for the Associated Students of the University of Hawai‘i and the person leading the charge in the push for the fee, hopes to have the fee in place by the fall 2008 semester.
"Our goal is to start as soon as we can," Gerhardt said.
UH Associate Athletic Director John McNamara said the athletic department is likewise endorsing the proposal.
"We're going to be supportive of it," McNamara said. "We're certainly not pioneers. ... The majority of schools have something like this implemented."
UH is currently one of three schools in the nine-team Western Athletic Conference that doesn't have a mandatory athletic fee for students, according to Gerhardt. He added that schools like the University of Florida and the University of Arizona have athletic fees of $400 dollars a year.
Although an official proposal has been made, athletic officials do not yet know specifically what the money would go toward. "It's more hypothetical at this point because the initiative is still in its infancy," McNamara said.
He added that one of the department's primary responsibilities is to make sure they accommodate as many seats possible for events.
As part of the athletic fee proposal, students would get free tickets to all University of Hawai‘i sporting events for that semester.
To adjust to the increase in student attendance that is expected if the athletic fee is implemented, Gerhardt said the student seating for sporting events will be expanded.
He stated that even students who aren't sports fan can benefit from the athletic fees.
"When the athletic department is doing well, so is everyone else," he said.
Gerhardt said it has been proven that when schools' athletic departments do well, more alumni donate to the school, which strengthens the whole university.
Matthew Gerhardt, the athletic advisory board representative for the Associated Students of the University of Hawai‘i and the person leading the charge in the push for the fee, hopes to have the fee in place by the fall 2008 semester.
"Our goal is to start as soon as we can," Gerhardt said.
UH Associate Athletic Director John McNamara said the athletic department is likewise endorsing the proposal.
"We're going to be supportive of it," McNamara said. "We're certainly not pioneers. ... The majority of schools have something like this implemented."
UH is currently one of three schools in the nine-team Western Athletic Conference that doesn't have a mandatory athletic fee for students, according to Gerhardt. He added that schools like the University of Florida and the University of Arizona have athletic fees of $400 dollars a year.
Although an official proposal has been made, athletic officials do not yet know specifically what the money would go toward. "It's more hypothetical at this point because the initiative is still in its infancy," McNamara said.
He added that one of the department's primary responsibilities is to make sure they accommodate as many seats possible for events.
As part of the athletic fee proposal, students would get free tickets to all University of Hawai‘i sporting events for that semester.
To adjust to the increase in student attendance that is expected if the athletic fee is implemented, Gerhardt said the student seating for sporting events will be expanded.
He stated that even students who aren't sports fan can benefit from the athletic fees.
"When the athletic department is doing well, so is everyone else," he said.
Gerhardt said it has been proven that when schools' athletic departments do well, more alumni donate to the school, which strengthens the whole university.
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Viewing Comments 1 - 7 of 7
Mermaider
posted 11/21/07 @ 1:51 AM HST
Commenting at 1:40 am before the paper even hits stands I already know what's going to happen. How can athletics think this will fly after the Aerosmith/Toyota Fiasco? More student fees? Don't we already have the highest in the nation?
While I don't think the idea of a student fee for athletics is an bad idea, as the source states it has proven beneficial at other colleges. (Continued…)
DK
posted 11/21/07 @ 9:49 AM HST
Sure, so the Aerosmith money just wasn't enough, how about building a stadium on campus so people will actually go to the football games when the team is bad again. (Continued…)
Bud
posted 11/21/07 @ 4:19 PM HST
I know the author of this article, and first off I have to give him crap for having a mistake in his lead sentence: "included the tuitions..." (I had to do that because he's so anal about grammar)
I think the athletic fees could be a good idea. (Continued…)
Kyna
posted 11/22/07 @ 11:24 PM HST
An athletics fee might not be such a bad idea, but on the other hand, it really looks like an outrageous exploitation of UH students. My question would be what sorts of checks and balances would be placed on whoever is handling the money, and would the money actually go to what it's needed for?
We saw how Athletics handled the revenue from the Aerosmith concert, and most people were not impressed. (Continued…)
Calvin
posted 11/22/07 @ 11:59 PM HST
I don't get why I should have to give sevnty five dollars to the athletic department to go to school.
Observer
posted 11/25/07 @ 12:55 PM HST
If this proposal passes, it's going to set a precedent for more student fees that benefit specific operations. Maybe $99 to fix classrooms? $99 for longer library hours? $99 for better food? $99 for more parking? Oh, but they are already proposing to raise parking fees by nearly 50% over 5 years anyway. (Continued…)
Dave
posted 12/02/07 @ 9:45 PM HST
I will give my money first to my education, you know, my class room. The athletic department should be making enough right now with the football teams success. (Continued…)
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