For many University students, football games represent exalted bliss: the crowds, the camaraderie, the exuberance. And then, naturally, there are the tailgate parties, where football fans sip not the sacramental wine, but rather the most heretical of brews, Natty Ice.
Many students plan their weekends around football games. That was the concern in 2001 when the University Senate drafted a joint resolution with Oregon State forbidding the scheduling of major university events during the week before finals.
Disregarding the joint resolution, the Athletic Department recently announced that the 2007 Civil War football game will be scheduled for the Saturday before finals week. This appears to be a direct violation of the joint resolution, passed after the 2001 Civil War game, which took place the Saturday before finals week. The controversial scheduling comes at the behest of ESPN, the worldwide leader in televised sports. The cable network (owned by Disney, which is also the parent company of the television network ABC, another showcaser for college football games) requested that the Ducks play Arizona on Nov. 15 at Arizona Stadium. The Athletic Department will reap financial gain from the game’s broadcast, a sum estimated to be somewhere in the six-figure- range.
The timing of the announcement is unfortunate. In a recent guest commentary published in The Register-Guard, professors Nathan Tublitz and James Earl questioned University priorities, stating that the University’s emphasis is on athletics. Ultimately this is an unfair assertion to make. But that does not meant that the Athletic Department does not get, or at least expect, a certain amount of preferential treatment.
The reasoning of the joint resolution seems clear: Events scheduled during dead week will have a net negative effect on students. This may be true; this may be untrue. Nonetheless, students are autonomous, independent individuals. They can make choices for themselves, especially decisions regarding their study habits. This will merely be yet another on a long list of distractions.
Nonetheless, for those students willing to wait in line for eons to partake in their student ticket privileges, this might come as a blow. If anything, this sends the wrong message to students and faculty alike; it sends the message that that the Athletic Department, if it chooses, may ignore University Senate resolutions. To steal a line from political humorist P.J. O’Rourke, perhaps these resolutions have no greater weight than a note passed in study hall. Regardless, they exist to guide University policy. The Athletic Department wants to shore up revenue, and that is understandable; nonetheless, it should understand that football games affect a number of students, from cheerleaders to players to band members. This change to the football schedule ignores the concerns of the faculty and will disadvantage students.