The Ohio University Student Senate holds weekly meetings that open with comments from general students at Ohio University.

In past weeks, these comments have included one or two athletics bashers complaining about the funding of ICA spending...  These complaints have led to articles in The Post, with quotes from these students about how all their friends and them don't go to athletic events.  Remember, we can count on one hand the number of students at these meetings speaking out...  Last night was a bit different, with over 30 athletic supporters (Sports Management majors, Business majors, Journalism majors, students employed by the athletic department, and O Zone members) who were all there to speak to the importance of athletics to their educational and overall student expereince at Ohio University.

Now if you open today's post, you will see a headline along the bottom reading "Eventful session addresses flurry of campus concerns..." Below that are 4 articles talking about what was discussed last night at the Student Senate meeting.  None mention the support for athletics....  This is despite athletic supporters speaking during the vast majority of the open forum time, and a report by two senators on ICA.  The 4 articles mentioned were hardly the focus of last night, despite how The Post trys to swing it.

I'm very sick of a paper that claims to be "An Independent voice of Ohio University and Athens" having such biased coverage on this issue.  They are not independent as they claim, but rather a group of editors who act as puppets for a few loud-mouthed faculty members with a vendetta against athletics.  It is absolutely ridiculous and must stop.

BD, I value your input, so can you tell us where you thing TO missed the mark on his claims?

In all fairness, you would have to agree that most students do not attend athletic events. How many students do we have now- 20K? If we draw 5k to a game, maybe 1-2K are students and the rest are the locals. Is that somewhat accurate?

Giacomo, I think your point is a bit flawed, as there is virtually nothing that a majority of students on campus do. What I believe is relavent is that athletic events are attended by more students than any other university sponsored events. The fact also remains that the O Zone is the largest student org on campus (and it isn't close).

The claim that the paper is a "puppet" of a few faculty.  That's just silly.  Faculty members have virtually no input or voice in the operation of the publication.  There are myriad possible reasons why the senate recap didn't include what he wanted.  The original draft might have had it and space led to it getting cut.  Maybe the reporter decided to focus on the actual senators instead of community people.  Maybe the reporter had a different judgment of newsworthiness.  Maybe the section editor didn't feel like it warranted inclusion.  Maybe it was an oversight.

The editorial board, the people responsible for the editorials that tend to rile us up, almost certainly never saw or had anything to do with that story before it went to press.

If you want to accuse The Post of a bias, you're closer to the mark painting them anti-administration.  Given the administration's staunch support of athletics, it is not surprising the paper would take a contrary position on page 2.  To suggest that it affects reportage, however, is a reach.

Exactly. All students pay for the operation of Ping (and programs like intramurals that are run through it). All pay for the operation of the Baker Center.  All pay for athletics. Everyone pays for various art programs and groups (that I really can't name because I never was a part of).  Everyone pays for career services and counseling programs. There are cultural programs and social groups. Most students take advantage of only a few of the things their fees actually go toward. There's something for everyone, but not everything (athletics included) is for everyone.

Sprinkle.

My apologies for misunderstanding your first post -- I've heard some use that argument against funding in the past, to my amazement.

Believe it or not, I was never a stick-and-ball sport fan before I came here.  For those who know my career goals, that might seem crazy now.

You absolutely can't decide this issue solely based on who and how many are attending but I think outreach is important.  Finding ways to increase the undergraduate attendance at athletics events is great but I'm a big fan of anything done to get people like faculty members and graduate students to show up.  Most of these people are individuals who got their undergraduate education elsewhere.  They may have other allegiances in athletics or may have none at all.  I always campaign to bring some of my grad student friends along with mixed success.

Just the other day, a student handed me a small flier encouraging me (as his instructor) to attend the wrestling meet on Sunday.  Small gesture but I think stuff like that is big.  I've been pleased to see the faculty in places like Women and Gender Studies got excited to support the women's bball team during special events.  I really feel the way forward is to increase the sense of mutual investment student athletes and faculty members have in one another.  I know that's a little kumbaya but too many faculty members only notice football and basketball players when they crash cars into buildings or punch-out bouncers.  We need to do whatever we can to build positive relationships between the academic side of university and athletics.  That doesn't mean debates over funding disappear in one big group hug but I think it's helps the two sides understand each other a little better.  

Or, more likely, it was planned as a separate story and they never looked at this site.

I tend to be a pretty reserved person, but that last straw finally broke the camel's back.  When I snap, I snap hard. Head for high ground.  

Instead of being petty and  bickering over partisanship.  Why not just thank you optimist for being so passionate about the topic.  Geez.

Like saying "Kudos" to him?



Oh, The Post loved Will Klatt.  They drank his milkshake.