I have had opportunities to experience a phenomenon unlike any other—college football Saturdays (and Thursday Nights). Many schools do not have the opportunity to have a college football program, and for that we are blessed as a campus. But, in the three years that I have been a student at the Institute, when the ticketing system changed, I began to dread Saturday afternoon.
As a loyal member of the Yellow Jacket community, who proudly bleeds white and gold, I have been sorely disappointed by the actions taken by the current SGA to protect our rights with their collaboration with the Athletic Association (AA) this past year with our ticketing program. As a ‘block captain’ I was inundated with unorganized lists, a bevy of misinformation, and a slew of emails that I was forced to trudge through without the help of SGA. These issues were magnified on game-days when ushers did not know where one block began and one block ended, and did little to protect the integrity of the blocks.
It is incomprehensible to many in the student body, myself included, how SGA could not protect some semblance of sanity in the ticketing process. Though I understand the power of the AA in terms of money, alumni support, and power on campus, it is amazing that SGA was simply steam rolled by the AA. This program allowed many, who last year would have been given a seat, to be turned away simply because they missed a deadline or did not have a voucher (which was supposed to be deemed irrelevant by our new ticketing system).
Our student body leaders are put into place to protect the rights and voices of the students. We should hold them to that standard as we move forward into a new football season. We cannot simply shake our fists at the AA when we have an outlet that has been given the presence of the AA and Institute President G. P. “Bud” Peterson.
So, it seems inconceivable to continue to allow those in the campus affairs wing of SGA continue this practice, so hopefully this new administration will take a strong footing against the AA and will not crumble in the face of upholding students’ rights and privileges as we cheer on our Jackets this fall.
Hari Gopal
Third-year MGT
The school’s actions with regard to the Tin Building illustrate everything that is wrong with the administration here at Tech. Take points in order from the article.
1) It is claimed that this is part of developing the alley way between the Skiles Building and the Weber Building but this is unlikely since the Tin Building is between the Weber Building and the Coon Building.
2)It is claimed this will become the main thoroughfare while Skiles walkway is closed but a look at the campus map shows that the main thoroughfare will be the alley between Skiles and Weber.
3) They say this will allow construction on the CULC to proceed more quickly. I take this means the finish date will not be Fall of 2011 as said previously but will move up to Summer 2011.
4) They talk about how the transit system serves they proposed new location and how they have the Stingerette service. The Green route does go there but doesn’t run on weekends or late at night. The location at 14th and Hemphill is outside the Stingerette’s service area.
A simple visit Parking and Transportation Website would have revealed this.
5) It is claimed they are committed to having student involvement but the quote in the article shows that they aren’t even sure if they have tried to get student involvement.
I expect that the school will make appropriate noise and then go ahead and shaft the students anyway. I also expect that some of the issues I have raised here (ignorance of the campus and of school policies on the part of a high ranking school administrator, etc) to be swept under the carpet with an appropriate show of concern toward the problems.
If Tech’s administration wants to show that they do care about the students then these issues will be handle in a fair public manner. If not then Tech will continue to be “The Place Where Students Come Last”.
Andrew Flett
Fifth-year AE