Improvements to Assembly Hall might betray academics

Athletics spending’s appearance as a priority at IU has not been uncommon recently. While the University does not outspend some of the nation’s larger athletics programs (Ohio State, for example), a pretty penny does go to benefiting its most prolific representatives on the national media stage. \nThe athletics department is working now to convince the IU board of trustees to allocate even more funding to its end. During the board’s meeting last week, athletics department representatives, including director Rick Greenspan, proposed that if a new arena is not constructed (a possibility that has not been ruled out), IU’s Assembly Hall will require upward of $100 million for improvements in order to remain up to date. Several trustees agreed that such improvements were necessary, and IU president Adam Herbert, who will leave office in July, expressed concern with the length of time that has passed since the facility was last renovated.\nAs an IU athletics fan very much hoping for the success of the IU men’s and women’s basketball teams, I welcome any improvement to our current arena. However, as an IU student pursuing academic success and a large salary in part due to the academic prestige of the alma mater, this proposal should be viewed with a certain amount of skepticism. Following the September approval of a $55 million athletics facility upgrade that includes construction of an Indiana Basketball Development Center, another large appropriation to the department for renovation might seem over the top to some who are students before fans.\nComparing IU athletics to some of the lower-tier programs in the Big Ten Conference reveals the difficulty with such renovations. For example, Northwestern University’s men’s and women’s basketball teams each finished last in Big Ten Conference play in 2007, both posting respective 2-14 records while playing in Welsh-Ryan Arena. The facility holds 8,117 spectators, a full 9,339 fewer than Assembly Hall, which holds 17,456. However, during the 2005 school year, graduating salaries for Northwestern students were either at or above the national average in the areas of consulting, engineering and information technology, finance and marketing and communications. While the results for IU’s nationally acclaimed Kelley School of Business are far superior to those of Northwestern’s business programs, other areas fall short of those whose diplomas say Northwestern.\nI am not showing these statistics as a means of berating Greenspan and the athletics department. They are merely doing their job, namely concentrating on the improvement and continued success of IU athletics. Rather, I am pointing them out in hope that the board of trustees will consider the student before the fan when they evaluate the amount to spend on Assembly Hall’s improvements, especially considering that lately the IU athletics department has at points been in a significant amount of debt. Are facility upgrades necessary for Assembly Hall? Tentatively, if IU needs to focus on the success of athletics and the exposure they can bring to the University, then the answer is likely yes. However, these improvements should not result in the decline of academic programs that might also benefit from funding. Either direction for funding has benefits and drawbacks. But the greatest good for the greatest number might leave Assembly Hall in its current state of disrepair.