Duck athletic tickets and Lane Transit District bus passes are two very different services covered by student incidental fees. One inspires popular outrage from a fraction of the student body that will do anything to go to a football game; the other is an often-overlooked but necessary means of transporting students to class, taking them to overflow University housing and home from bars at night, and is needed to prevent campus from being flooded with more cars.
The ASUO Senate deserves some kudos for choosing to drive a hard bargain with the athletic department and LTD in search of more economical contracts for each service. But in recommending the Athletics and Contracts Finance Committee keep its budget the same this year as last — which would mean neither service could be maintained next year — the Senate ensured an arduous road ahead, and there is much work to be done before either problem is solved.
Athletic tickets seem to have an easier solution. No one would benefit from the ASUO dropping its contract with the athletic department that allows some, but not enough, students to attend football and basketball games. Students should be getting into the games for far less money than the athletic department charges the ASUO. But if the contract didn’t exist, students would be priced out of attending football games entirely.
Beyond that, the ASUO will serve students best if it remains relevant to all of them in some way. Using the incidental fee to purchase football tickets gives a group of students who do not participate in student programs or other campus events a reason to contribute to a fund that all students can benefit from in some way.
But the current system for distributing the tickets is broken. It’s bad enough that all students who want to go to a football game can’t; it’s worse that computer glitches and the power of one’s wireless Internet connection seem to determine the lottery for doling out the tickets. A more responsible model would allow students who want tickets to purchase them at a rate subsidized by the ASUO.
This would lower the cost of the ASUO’s contract with the athletic department — currently a whopping $1.54 million — and create parity between football tickets and other events that the ASUO funds. All students would pool money to have the service exist, and those who actually use it would pay more. The same thing happens when a student program is funded by the ASUO, but anyone who wants to attend a social function the group organizes has to pay $5 at the door.
Buses are a far harder problem. The University administration knows it cannot afford to have more students drive to campus, nor can it tolerate the safety concerns of late-night buses being taken away. Students quite literally cannot afford to bear the full cost of the LTD contract, which grows in double digits each year. The administration has said it is willing to sit at the table and give the ASUO a strong hand in negotiations, a pledge for which all students should be thankful.
The administration and LTD have long sought to pool student bus passes with the faculty and staff contract and take LTD off of the incidental fee. The time may have come to explore this option, but only if it saves students a significant amount of money. There is a long way to go before these issues are resolved. But students driving a hard bargain from the beginning may lead to great benefits in the end.
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