valleychamp wrote:UNI receives 1.2M in student fees. I believe it is the lowest in the conf.
Missouri State has zero in student fees, outside of the private institutions, the lowest in the league.
My gripe isn't how much is paid in student fees and direct institutional support, it is why do schools like UNI and MSU allow your athletic departments to be beat up by politicians and angry professors? The fact remains that even if UNI and or MSU received 12 mil in public funding for athletics, it would be just one drop in the bucket of the overall university budget. Chump change for what athletic the departments really deliver.
In my opinion, this war is being fought all wrong. Rather than tap dancing around the issue by telling the regents and trustees how the school will do a better job and cut costs and become more efficient, a strong case needs to be made for the value of athletics at your institution. A better case needs to be made that the $7-10 million is a freaking bargain. Regardless if they are profitable or not, nobody questions the value of athletics at the University of Iowa and the University of Missouri. Yet when it comes to UNI and MSU, these pinheads talk about your $7- 10 million deficits as if they are crippling the school and that somehow the money could be better used somewhere else.
Once again, the money spent on athletics at UNI and MSU is a bargain, essential for esprit de corps and vital to the local economy. Furthermore, I'm sure your local businesses feel a boost from activity before and after big games and events. The university benefits by getting its name out into the public and athletics boosts student recruitment. Sure, UNI, MSU and all schools need to constantly review how they spend their athletic money, but right now, what both schools get in return is a bargain. Unfortunately, that part if the story is not being sold very hard and until it is, these issues will continue to reoccur, stories will continue to pop up in the loca paper and one day the other side will win by gaining major reductions in athletic funding or having the athletic department cut off completely from public funds.
My opinion is that the pro athletic funding crowd needs to become proactive and take to the offensive on the issue. Right now, that isn't happening. This is a serious, serious issue.
There are three rules that I live by, never get less than 12 hours sleep, never gamble with a guy who has the same first name as a city and never get involved with a chick with a tattoo of a dagger on her body. Stick to that and everything else is gravy!