Four Reasons Students Should Vote Against The Athletics Fee Increase

This week, students at UT-Tyler have an opportunity to weigh in on a proposed fee increase to the athletics program through a special election. The election asks students whether they approve of a fee increase to the athletics fee from $16 to $20 per semester credit hour and for the maximum from $240 to $300 dollars per semester. 

The Student Government Association (SGA) at UT-Tyler held two town halls last week and previously delivered notice of the election to the student body via email. Now that all of the information has pretty much come out, here are four reasons why students should vote No on the athletics fee proposal.  

1) To Place Responsibility For The Athletic Budget With The Administration 

In the town hall on Oct. 19, UT-Tyler Athletics Director Howard Patterson said the following: “When we went to Division II, it was clear up front that we don’t(sic) have the funds to play at the same level at Division II as we did at Division III.” Patterson also said that former UT-Tyler President Michael Tidwell was “the driving force” behind transitioning to DII. 

So the administration, allegedly Tidwell, knew of the financial limitations to playing in DII but went through with it anyway. He made a gamble that eventually did not pay off. Instead, it got worse. and Now, with the current proposal to increase the athletics fee, it appears the University wants a bailout from the students to pay for exploding athletics expenses that the professionals failed to anticipate. 

So I say students shouldn’t do it. They shouldn’t bail out the administration. It is one thing to volunteer your own money to help with an athletics program you love. It is another thing to vote to compel a whole class of students to pay out for professionals’ mistakes. 

Students should respectfully vote No on the proposed athletics fee increase and affirm that responsibility for the athletic budget shortfall belongs with the administration.  

2) Students Receive Little-To-No Benefit From The Athletics Program 

Students should vote no because they receive little-to-no direct benefit from funding the athletics program, and surely not enough to pay even more through an increase. 

When athletics supporters speak of the benefits of an athletics program, they usually cite benefits that are corporately good for the university but direct and traceable benefits to the individuals who paid the fee. They cite benefits such as increased student enrollment and financial donations. However, they never really identify anything that directly returns good to the individual student who pays the fee. 

For example, in the town hall on Oct. 19, Patterson said that the main benefit he sees for an athletics program is its contribution to school spirit. Now, he may have me here. However, aside from this, nearly every other benefit athletics supporters provide are benefits that go to the university instead of the fee-paying student. 

Now, here is the reason why athletics programs really exist in universities. Patterson’s second benefit he listed on Oct. 19 was brand promotion, and this is it. It is undeniable that the university’s athletics program exists, by and large, to promote the university’s brand. This is the reason why UT-Tyler has an athletics program. It is to promote the school’s brand—a benefit that goes to the university. 

Now, what does the student get out of this? Does the athletics program bolster his personal brand? (Or should I say “her” brand since the majority of UT-Tyler students are female?) Does she get her name in lights or a tremendous bolster for the up to $240 she pays each semester for athletics alone? No, she doesn’t. Instead, the institution benefits while the student carries the bill. 

Even if some employer picks her resume out of a slew of other resumes because of the UT-Tyler brand, the most she probably gets for this is an interview. MAYBE. The rest is up to her. This represents little benefit to the student who foots the bill for the athletics program. All of the real benefits go to the university but in the name of student enrichment. 

Plus, when one considers that over 60 percent of UT-Tyler students are commuter students, then it becomes clear how little on-campus sports means to many UT-Tyler students. 

Overall, UT-Tyler’s athletic program fails to provide substantial benefits to the students who pay the fee. Therefore, students should vote No to the proposal to increase the student fee that funds the athletics program. 

3. Change The Narrative About Student Approval of Athletics 

So far, if you wanted to create change in the size of the burden –financial burden—students carry for the athletics program, then it would be hard to do today. This is largely because student voters have approved every fee student fee increase for the athletics program in the past five years except one in 2016. So for all an administrator can see, The official historical record says students support the athletics fee because they keep voting for it. 

However, a casual observer who talks to nearly any student he comes across will find out that most students have an unfavorable opinion of athletics and oppose paying the athletics fee. By and large, student funding for athletics programming is unpopular, but one wouldn’t know this by looking at election results. 

Therefore, something has to happen to change the collective perception about student opinion. This means that students who oppose student funding must defeat the current increase proposal at the ballot box. 

Doing this will send a message to leaders in power that a sizable portion of students disapprove of something to do with athletics. Moreover, this will enter a new student position into the historical record and provide precedent for onlookers to observe that not everybody loves athletics and that as a matter of fact, student involvement in athletic funding might actually be unpopular. 

This could create a change in the administration’s perception and perhaps less willingness on its part to burden the student body in the future. 

All in all, this could result in the beginning of important change for future reform when students register their dissatisfaction with a no-vote at the ballot. Students can effect this change if they vote no, defeat the athletics fee proposal this election and change the narrative about student opinion towards athletics. 

4. To Overcome Athlete Turnout

In my years of observing elections to increase the athletics fee, I have noticed that the athletics program always turns out their people to vote. The voting block is roughly 500 to 600 people—both athletes and their friends—and the elections usually see about 900 to 1,000 student voters in total. 

This means that in the years when the athletics supporters carried the vote and the fee increase passed, it was usually because the athletics people turnout their voters while the rest of the student body is ignorant that an election will even occur. I have observed that that student athletes and their friends have a high turnout in these elections, while most of the student body is unaware of the vote. This is how many of the fee increases pass year after year, due to the disparate distribution of relevant information. 

Nevertheless, students face the same outcome in this election: having the mandatory athletics fee go up because a small minority turnout to vote while the rest of the student body does not. 

Students should vote no because if they do not show up to vote, then the student athletes most likely will. Athletes have every right to do so, but for the students who do not wish to pay a higher fee, here is your chance to vote and participate in keeping your fee from rising. Vote no on the athletics proposal this week. 

Conclusion

There are probably many more reasons why students should vote NO for the athletics fee increase, but these are the four I came up with. Students should vote no to protect themselves from taking the fall for the administration’s failed gamble, because athletics doesn’t benefit students enough to pay more for it, to change the narrative that the athletics fee enjoys a majority of student support and to overcome the athletics supporters’ turnout.

Students have until 11:59 p.m. Friday to vote through their Patriot Email (see the email from student government). Students have a voice in this election and they should use it. They should vote no and oppose an increase to the athletics fee.

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What do you think about the fee proposal? Let me know in the comments below.