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I'm really starting to get sick of this crap!

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I'm really starting to get sick of this crap!

I already sent her my "feelings" on her one sided reporting. You mean to tell me she couldn't find one student to support the increase. Not one student body representative understands what a Football team brings to a University? >:( I'm sick of it!
I love the title of the article and her editorial "unusually vigorous campaign" crap.

FAU students blast increase in fees to bail out sports debt

By Jennifer Peltz
Staff Writer
Posted June 30 2005


BOCA RATON – Is Florida Atlantic University football worth making students pay more for sports than any other public university in the state?

Absolutely not, student leaders told trustees Wednesday, in an unusually vigorous campaign to stop a 17 percent jump in the fee next fall.

Trustees still agreed to raise the athletics fee from $11.75 to $13.75 per credit, a difference of $6 for the average undergraduate course. Trustees said they had no other way to staunch the red ink that has flowed since FAU launched a football team in 2001.

But students said the increase would unfairly burden them to bail sports out of a multimillion-dollar debt. They questioned the balance between athletics and academics at a school where the sports fee adds almost 20 percent to the cost of actual tuition.

They complained that higher sports fees would do nothing for branch campuses in Broward County and elsewhere with limited or no athletics. And they suggested the hike might make students resentful enough to boycott the very sports the fee was supposed to support.

"[Students] are so down about this $2 increase that they feel that their way of getting back at the university is to not come to the games, and that is my biggest fear," student body president Dan Wilson told trustees, adding that he goes to every football game.

Meanwhile, Miami-based Florida International University trustees agreed to raise student activity fees from $9.14 to $10.52 per credit. The increase will cover operating costs for an expanded recreation center at FIU's main campus, as well as a new recreation center at FIU's campus in North Miami.

The fee hikes come on top of a 5 percent tuition increase set by state lawmakers for FIU, FAU and Florida's other public universities. But the costs are still low by national standards. At the resident rate, an FAU or FIU student will pay about $2,700 for a full-time courseload of 24 credits over the coming fall and spring terms. The national average for public universities is likely to top $5,100.

The FAU sports-fee increase comes with some sweeteners, such as free bus rides to home football games and free tickets for students' children.

Trustees said they had no choice, given a sports program that's $2 million in debt already and poised to borrow as much as $1.8 million to make ends meet for the budget year that ends today. The sports-fee increase is expected to generate $1 million next year.

Jennifer Peltz can be reached at [email protected] or 561-243-6636.
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I'm really starting to get sick of this crap!

Her response to my email (hey, she at least responded which is more than most Sentinel writers):


The makeup of the students involved: Student government leaders from every campus, as well as the student body president. As you doubtless know, FAU has a universitywide student government (the University-Wide Council, headed by the student body president), as well as student governments for each campus/region (Boca Raton, Broward, Jupiter, Treasure Coast, each with its own student governor and student senate). The student governor and/or student senate speaker from each was there and expressed opposition.


Thanks for your interest,


JP


My follow up to her response:

Thanks for responding to me. Would it have been possible for you to interview some students around campus that appreciate what the Football team will bring to FAU in the future or do you honestly believe that a majority of students don?t support the team and don?t want to see it succeed?

I understand that it is important to hold the faculty and decision makers of the University responsible for their actions or mistakes but the Sentinel really seems to be beating a dead horse with all of the negative articles about this athletics shortfall. Even if it could be balanced with some positive articles describing how far this startup team has come in its few short years it wouldn?t seem so one sided.

When you can?t even get 5000 people to a Marlins game, it?s understandable why there may have been some overstated expectations of fan turnout. I can tell you as an Alumnus of FAU and an avid fan of the team that I am very excited about the future of the team and what it will bring to the college in the future. Ask any of the students who actually attend the game and they will be a little more optimistic. It?s unfair to hold FAU and FIU to the same standards as other Florida Universities who have had successful programs for 25-75 years and it is also unfair to consistently publish one sided articles.

Schnellenberger and Brogan aren?t Bush and Cheney and the football team isn?t the Iraq war. The Sentinel needs to have a little more perspective.

This coming season will likely be a losing one because of all the departing seniors and the tougher schedule so I can?t wait to see how the Sentinel spins the stories. I can just see the headlines now:



FAU Owls lose again, Student Government asks,?Was it really worth it??

Was Schnellenberger?s dream a pipe dream?

Athletics vs Education, FAU answer the tough questions.

Attendance woes continue for FAU?s fledgling Football Program
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I'm really starting to get sick of this crap!

I gotta tell ya' Owlcoholic ;D,

That is one hell of a follow-up response!! I am not even an avid FAU fan (as you can tell from my signature), but I have to give you kudos and ask that you post her counter-response if and when it comes in.

Anyway good luck to you guys and I admire your fans and their support and will attend some of your games (wearing Blue & Gold, no less) this year to support fellow SBC brethren when FIU isn't in town or on TV.

P.S. My favorite part was your :o "imaginary" :o headlines that they will conjure up if you guys have a down season! ;D

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I'm really starting to get sick of this crap!

Okay…I have calmed down and after Jennifer's last response, I can't be too hard on her.
She has been very responsive to me and I found out that she actually had a key quote from a student supporting the team that was supposedly removed by the late night editor and she has complained to that person.
If nothing else, perhaps by engaging these reporters we can get them to throw us a positive article bone every now and then. ;D
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I'm really starting to get sick of this crap!

The fact that you can find X amount of student that don't agree with the increase fee's, I bet you can find the same amount that don't mind and do support the school by supporting the athletic programs and I bet you that I can find the same amount that just don't care or where clueless about the increase.

News these days are driven by so much negativety ???

If these students that are so upset about the fees they do have options.
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I'm really starting to get sick of this crap!

But if she had more positive feedbacks, it will ruin the intent of the article. :-/
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I'm really starting to get sick of this crap!

FAU's student government is not a place to find positive feedback, 'cuz if they want to find the biggest waste of money at FAU it is the student government. I know most of the high ranking ones have golf carts, and when I was a student there (just 2 yrs ago) I knew someone who had student government pay for a golf cart and had his initials on the front of it.

And if I remember right our student government was working with the biggest budget in the state when I arrived to FAU in 1999.
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I'm really starting to get sick of this crap!


mh2os said

FAU's student government is not a place to find positive feedback, 'cuz if they want to find the biggest waste of money at FAU it is the student government. I know most of the high ranking ones have golf carts, and when I was a student there (just 2 yrs ago) I knew someone who had student government pay for a golf cart and had his initials on the front of it.

And if I remember right our student government was working with the biggest budget in the state when I arrived to FAU in 1999.

If you guys continue down this road (i.e golf carts and such), your wheels are going to start falling off like FAMU.
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