As some of you may remember, a while back Iowa State had five non-revenue sports in financial trouble. 75 per student. I take a personal interest in this issue. Kevin Ragland, Graduate Student Senate president, said that athletics was obviously not in need of financial support from the students. He cited the construction of a new press box at Trice stadium and the planned artificial turf practice field as evidence that Cyclone sports were definitely not feeling the pinch at the purse strings.
Money is the name of the game.
If the athletic department was pouring its money into a new press box, they would barely have enough change left over to buy me a pair of track spikes. Academics are important, but unfortunately the Cyclones don't get too many front page stories about how many people made it on the dean's list. That's free publicity, and there's nothing that can compare to it. Athletics give us the national attention that we need to get ISU's name out to students who may not have heard or cared about our university before. Without proper funding, the quality and success of our sports teams will dwindle.