Athletics must mind manners

Last year's tussle between students and the administration concerning the addition of the mandatory $30 athletic fee still remains fresh in our minds and subtracted from our bank accounts. The process to renew the fee is about to begin, and this time students need to be part of the decision process, unlike a year ago.\nWe understand what the fee is about. This column isn't intended to declare either support or opposition. However, we find the way in which the administration went about passing the measure last year unacceptable. It skipped the proper channels through which mandatory student fees are usually scrutinized. \nThe University isn't our parent. IU cannot simply demand student support and then disregard the student body's perspective.\nThis year must be different. \nNew Athletics Director Rick Greenspan can seize this opportunity to rebuild a struggling reputation for the department by proving that he has begun to take charge.\nThe athletics department settled itself into a deficit pushing $5 million. Is that the students' fault? Absolutely not. It is not the freshman class' fault that IU has gone through three athletics directors in four years. Or the same with football coaches.\nIf it affects the students, and if it's paid by the students, then the students should have a say in it. The administration made little effort even to solicit the advice of those who supply the additional $1.1 million. If the students were treated with the respect afforded to any other athletics department donor, their voices would have been heard. That's like the athletics department taking money from donors but not listening to their demands -- it just doesn't happen. \nLast year, when the IU Student Association attempted to represent the student body in the battle over the fee, a few suggestions were raised about how to justify the added mandatory fee. One such suggestion was to give the students something in return. The only way IU and the athletics department can justify the fee is by giving back to the students.\nGive us free football tickets. \nGive us free basketball tickets.\nGive us free T-shirts. \nGive us something, because last year the athletics department got something for nothing. \nThe student body must not be overlooked again. The University needs to go through the proper channels. We want to see Greenspan stand in front of the Committee on Fee Review -- made up completely of students -- and plead his case for why his department needs our money. He must convince students that the ship is turning around in Assembly Hall. He must explain why athletics should be shored up before academic departments are also in financial red ink. Greenspan also owes the students a massive "thank you" for the $1.1 million we've already been forced to give.\nWhether the fee is ultimately accepted or rejected by the CFR, the voice of the students must be heard, and the proper process must be used. If not, the students shouldn't have to pay. Would you pay for something you didn't want?