The Student Senate voted against the Athletic Department Finance Committee’s proposed budget increase Wednesday despite several Senators’ fears that this could cause the Athletics Department to reduce the number of student tickets to football and men’s basketball games.
ADFC proposed the maximum 7 percent benchmark, but the Senate approved a lesser increase of 3.48 percent, which was the Executive’s recommendation.
The Athletics Department proposed increasing the amount student government must pay to have the opportunity to negotiate and buy tickets, or donation value, which ADFC can negotiate.
ASUO Finance Coordinator Nick Hudson said the donation value for some sections of seats at McArthur Court went up 150 percent from last year.
ASUO President Adam Walsh said that in the real world, having to pay for the opportunity to buy something would be called extortion.
“We’re being asked, essentially, to pay a lot more for what we’re already getting,” he added.
“The question needs to be asked: Is this right for students?” Walsh said.
Students would support the ASUO in fighting for a better deal because tickets are a widely used allowance, Walsh said.
Senators voted 10 to 2 in favor of the Executive recommendation.
Senator Wally Hicks said that even if the Athletics Department reduces the number of student tickets, “the black market for tickets is robust … enough said.”
The Senate also allocated more than $5,000 in student fees to pay for the campus radio station KWVA’s “Democracy Now!” news service, nontraditional student week events and a winter gathering for the Native American Student Union. It also went toward KWVA equipment and chapter expenses for the American Institute of Architecture Students.
– Nicholas Wilbur