The Proposed Athletic Fee

By the Editor of The...TRUTH

   Sports fans may save $67 a semester if NMU goes ahead and adopts a fee to be paid along with tuition. It may be easier for more of them to make it to the games. But, even if it's only $5 to $11, why should those of us who don't care about sports have to help foot the bill?

   It would be more reasonable that when a student registers, they indicate whether or not they want to attend any games that semester. The cost could then be split between those who express interest, charged to their student accounts and the rest of us could eat a couple more times that month. It may turn out to be a little more than $11 per student that way, but it would still be cheaper than the $80 or so currently spent... PLUS it ends up being a hell of a lot more democratic.

   School spirit is a fine thing... but should it be mandatory? My memories of high school have not helped me feel any kinder towards sports, as my interests were in music and as a result neglected by school administrators. If we're going to have to pay a few bucks for other people to go see games, we should also all pay a few bucks so I can eat cheaper on campus.

   My feeling is that we're all going to end up paying. We always do. With more and more buildings being put up, the costs of future maintennance on those structures, the future costs of maintaining our required technology, etc., etc., we're not about to see a decrease in tuition and fees. Afterall, as long as other schools out there cost more, the University can justify charging more. In my opinion, the next time we get a 5% tuition increase, I want to see the administrator's 7% pay increase go towards lessing that 5%.

   N.M.U. seems to have somewhere along the way lost it's concept of being a "service" for the students. We are now a business. It's all about the bottom line. That's why there's so many frustrated students bitching about parking, laptops and all those other familiar issues. If it's not for the school, it's not going to happen. The students are the resource. Doesn't anyone else see that as being a bit backwards?