The Student Senate heard proposals Wednesday for a system to distribute tickets to sporting events via the Internet and for a resolution opposing a campus police department. The Senate also confirmed a new member and approved the EMU’s 2008-09 budget.

Electronic ticketing

Sen. Kyle McKenzie, chairman of the Athletic Department Finance Committee, presented an outline for electronic ticket distribution in which students would acquire tickets via GoDucks.com based on a “seniority system.”
Under McKenzie’s proposal, the release of tickets would be staggered. Five percent would be made available to fifth-year seniors and graduate and law students first. An hour later another 15 percent would be released and seniors would be given access.
Each subsequent hour more tickets would be released and more students would have access to them.
A $1 transaction fee may be applied to students who transfer tickets, but McKenzie said it had not been determined if the athletic department or his committee would collect such a fee.
“It creates a fair system for distribution,” McKenzie said.
Some senators disagreed.
“I think you’re mismatching supply and demand,” Sen. Dan Feldman said. “I know if I was a freshman, and I couldn’t get tickets to football games, I would be furious.”
McKenzie said the percentages of tickets could be reconfigured to ensure more would be available by the time freshmen had access to them.
Under the plan, if all of the available tickets were grabbed as soon as they were released, 20 percent would be available by the time freshman were given access. All other students would have access to those tickets at the same time.
McKenzie conceded that freshman have more interest in attending games. He also argued that only the most popular games of the season could inspire a rush of upper-classmen to grab tickets as soon as they were released.
If a student takes a ticket but cannot go to the game, there will be an online marketplace where the ticket could be traded to another student.
But if a ticket-holding student does not trade or use a ticket to two games, he or she could not attend the following game under the proposed plan.
“I’m not in favor of punishing students for missing games,” Sen. Kevin Parks said.
Sen. Nate Gulley asked if there was a way to create incentives for students to go to games. McKenzie said incentives were possible in the future. He said Oregon State University has a program that gives students who frequently attend games priority access to Civil War tickets.
Sens. Billy Hatch and Kate Jones raised concerns about student privacy. Student identification numbers, which are connected to everything from meal plans to library records, would be used to sign up for an account.
McKenzie said identification numbers would only be given to the athletic department. Students will create screen names to be used to trade tickets in the online marketplace, he said.
Sen. Lee Warnecke said he understood concerns about privacy, but said the majority of students have used eBay or have accounts on social networking sites and “shouldn’t be concerned” about the Web site.
Another option for distributing tickets would be a lottery system for all students, McKenzie said. He dislikes that idea because students could not be assured their friends would also have tickets, he said.
“I see these games as being much more of a social event,” McKenzie said. “I’m a fan, but I don’t want to go by myself.”
The electronic ticketing proposal will be included in the ADFC’s 2008-09 budget, and the Senate will vote on March 5. Senate meetings are open to the public.

A resolution opposing campus police

ASUO President Emily McLain and Jim Cleavenger, the graduate student representative in her cabinet, brought the Senate a draft resolution to discourage the creation of a University police department.
McLain said she was opposing the formation of a police department because the Department of Public Safety is “bringing us solutions, but we don’t know exactly what the problems are right now.”
“I think it’s more proactive than reactive, but it’s being painted as reactive right now,” she said.
Director of DPS Kevin Williams has publicly supported creating a campus police department.
Oregon statutes prevent universities from having police departments. The Oregon Legislature has the power to change those statutes in its next session in 2009.
The resolution says the Senate supports maintaining the current structure of DPS and its contracts with the Eugene Police Department. EPD currently has four officers who patrol campus.
The resolution also opposes the creation of a police department, opposes ejecting EPD officers currently on campus and opposes deputizing DPS officers.
“However, the Senate recommends adding additional language … that would encourage looking into the feasibility of increasing funding for the training of DPS staff, as well as expanding our contract with the EPD or other such law enforcement agency when it comes up for renewal after June 30th, 2008,” the resolutions reads.

Other business

Michael Reta, a political science major and a former outreach coordinator for the Black Student Union, was confirmed to the Senate Seat 9 on the ADFC. The seat was occupied by former Senate Vice President Donnie Kim until he resigned in January.
Reta said he thinks the incidental fee is fair and he does not support having Tasers or a police department on campus.
Warnecke asked if Reta plans to run for election in the spring. Warnecke, Parks and Noor Rajabzadeh are the only senators who will return next year.
Reta said he was considering it, but he could not commit at this time.
Warnecke encouraged Reta to stick around because the ASUO needs institutional memory.
“I myself had no clue what was going on when I first came here,” Warnecke said, “even though I ran on a campaign and acted like I did.”
Reta ran for office last spring. He lost a race for the ADFC seat now occupied by Sen. Karen Trippe.
The Senate approved the EMU’s 2008-09 budget, which will be more than $9 million. Student incidental fees will make up $4.2 million of that. The overall budget will increase by 6.4 percent from last year. Senators had approved up to a 7 percent increase, which would have given the EMU an additional $21,215. EMU Board members said the budget came in lower than they anticipated because bond debts had been repaid.
The Senate also allocated from surplus funds $5,500 to the Student Bar Association, $500 to MEChA and $100 to the Women’s Center.
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