Kick me while I'm down

Since the IU board of trustees announced Thursday its intention to allow the continuation of the athletics fee, I've been struggling somewhere between hurt and bitter. It's like the athletics department has punched me in the stomach, and then, not only asked me to smile about it, but to comfort it on its sore knuckles. \nIt's a sticky problem. Sports, undoubtedly, add a lot to the University. Sports cost money, the economy is not doing well, and the department has had a lot of financial snafus. I understand this. But students are what gives the University its raison d'être: We're what give IU its life. Are we really the ones who should be hurt in this?\nThe Indiana Daily Student reported on the recommendation Thursday. The article recounted the facts of the decision, along with the trustees' justification for ignoring the Committee for Fee Review. \nI've met Trustee Sue Talbot. She's nice. I met her at an Honors College function a few months ago, so I attached to her comments on the athletics fee. She said we need to "reframe our thinking" about the fee, and students should, instead, consider how much athletics add to our campus. I think she's right to a degree. \nI love IU basketball. I grew up in Indiana in the era of Damon Bailey worship, and I've had game tickets two years running. But Talbot also said, in light of what sports add to campus, $30 is a "very minor thing to ask." \nWhen was the last time Talbot spoke to struggling students, I wonder? I know students to whom $30 is a week's worth of groceries. When you're eating Lipton noodles for the fifth consecutive day, paying for intangibles like school pride comes into a whole new focus. \nAs nice as Talbot is, she still voted "yes." If our administrators are this out of touch with the student body and the reality of their lives, the athletics fee is just the beginning of our problems.\nOn the same IDS front page was an article about the increase in ticket sales for the upcoming football season. I haven't met Terry Hoeppner, the new football coach. I do, however, love his posters. You know -- the ones with him in the Uncle Sam pose. I've read his interviews, and he seems like a nice man with great plans for IU football. But I haven't heard him comment on the athletics fee. I'm not sure he will. Being new, he might not feel like he's a position to do so. \nI desperately want to support what he's trying to do with the football program. I'm so impressed Hoeppner is appealing to the student body that I want to support him, but I can't in good conscience do that. I won't support a campus entity that feels like it can use the student body as an ATM. \nSo Terry, thank you for your energy and hope, but I can't (and won't) be at the games. My heart will be with you in your efforts, but because the department already has my money, I won't be coming. Maybe after this year's winning season, you can focus some of that energy on making sure the department doesn't continue to violate students.\nMy anger is ultimately justified because it's borne of love. I love IU. My life wouldn't be the same without it, and when I graduate, I'll be eternally grateful for what it did for me. But the situation surrounding the athletics fee tells me what no woman wants to hear: "I know you love me, but I simply don't feel the same way about you"