On its Facebook page Wednesday night, the Ohio University Student Senate raved about its “AMAZING turn out for Student Speakout.”
Much of the turn out was a wave of students from various organizations and majors coming to express strong distaste for the results of a controversial study on university athletic spending. The rhetoric of the argument–which has largely been about the validity of the survey in the past–was centered around the value students place on the athletic program. Some students cited Ohio athletics as the reason they came to Ohio University while others noted the future benefits of having work experience in Division I athletics.
Taylor Evans, president of the Sports Business Association at Ohio, opened student remarks with a stern account of athletic department benefits he has observed in his time at the university.
“You know why I’m here,” Evans said addressing the Student Senate. He then asked all in attendance who had benefitted from Ohio athletics to stand. After the vast majority of the audience on hand rose from their respective seats Evans concluded, “Ohio athletics is a powerful thing.”
The strong showing in support of athletics is undoubtedly a response to recent outcry about athletic spending as a share of students’ general fee. The issue was brought to the forefront of local media attention when the spending numbers from Ohio football’s trip to the New Orleans Bowl were released in early January. The study, done by the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, emboldened the voice of those in favor of deeper cuts to Ohio’s athletic budget.
The study surveyed a small (but statistically significant) portion of Ohio University students and found that most would prefer less of their general fees going toward athletics. Cuts to athletic spending have been championed by several faculty members in lieu of Ohio’s impending cuts from state funding. After the study was released, debate began in editorial and university governmental circles as to whether the results were worth acting upon. A group consisting largely of sports management students came in large numbers to the athletic department’s defense on Wednesday night.
Evans stressed the wide range of students that see career related value in the athletics department. Students involved in journalism, video production, and athletic training were mentioned among the array of non student athlete beneficiaries. To illustrate the far reaching effects of athletics Evans called on the testimony of Ohio basketball student manager Paul O’Connor.
O’Connor stood up and said, “I wouldn’t be here if we didn’t have sports….we would not be as good of a school as we are now without athletics.” He went on to tell tales of his four years sitting alongside the Bobcat basketball team on the bench s student manager, an experience he later stressed is not as common or as fruitful in Division II or Division III athletic programs. He put a premium on his experience in going to last year’s NCAA Division I basketball tournament last year with the squad.
“(The) beating Georgetown experience will stay with me for the rest of my life,” he added.
Adding a new element to the pro-athletics case was Ohio junior Courtney Cohen. Cohen serves as the president of the large student-run fan organization the “O-zone.” The organization is home to around 2500 members. She said that she fields 50-100 emails per day from students looking for information on Ohio athletic events. Cohen gave an emotionally charged personal statement about what Ohio athletics means to her.
“(Ohio basketball) I would have to say gets me through the winter,” she informed. “Sports is just something that ties everyone together.”
After pronouncing that she had considered leaving the university early in her college career, Cohen said that it was Ohio athletics that kept her around. She, like many others, used Ohio’s success in last year’s NCAA tournament as a rallying cry for keeping the status quo in athletics.
“You should have been on Court Street after they (Ohio basketball) beat Georgetown,” she said referring to the magnitude of student support for athletics.
After the dust settled on “Student Speakout,” Senators Dan Quarhoff and Stephanie Stark gave a formal presentation on Ohio athletics that included alternatives to being a MAC member as well as alternatives to being in Division I. They also reported that 47% of student general fees go to athletics.
However, Quarhoff–who is a member of the Ohio cross country team–seemed to dismiss the idea of a major change in Ohio athletics’ standing.
“President McDavis has said multiple times that leaving the MAC is not an option,” he stressed.
