I rarely read the Oregon Daily Emerald because the contents so often fill me with bitter disgust, but I foolishly wanted to learn more about the “Taj Mahal of academic facilities” featured in the Jan. 5 issue. The mollycoddling of student-athletes is absurd to me. They already have free tuition, designer athletic apparel, a possible leg up on an athletic career and a stipend.
Why do they also get their own learning facility with private tutors? Are they the only students at the University who have demanding extra-curricular obligations that pose a challenge to academic success? Do we have a special facility for non-traditional students who have families and jobs to receive extra help? Does the average student, working part-time in fast food to make ends meet, have access to a private study room and one-on-one tutoring? No.
Other students attend faculty office hours and battle for the limited study rooms in the library, or find empty classrooms on campus to meet for informal study sessions. If students require more help than professors or peers can offer, they pay for tutors out of their own pockets. While the facility is off-limits to the unwashed masses — ahem — non-athletes, I certainly hope that Stephen Stolp, the executive director of support services for student athletes at the University, will be entitled to an English tutor.
His statement regarding homage to former student athletes “there’s a lot of umbrage to the past” was my favorite part of the article.
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