In these pages last year, we read a bevy of articles blasting the OU Athletic Department for setting up a student ticket policy that many students believed, and may still believe, "screws" the students. They argued that the Athletic Department was only out to make more money and to make it harder on students to buy and then use their student tickets. Does all of this sound familiar?

The truth is that the Athletic Department did change the student season ticket policy for both football and basketball seasons last year, but they didn't do so to disadvantage students or to make more money. The Athletic Department, under the outstanding leadership of Athletic Director Joe Castiglione, has worked hard in the past few years to create a real interaction between student government and his office. The main way this is accomplished is through the Athletic Advisory Board. This is a group of student leaders, the UOSA President, Vice-President, the chairs of the Student Congress and the Student Senate, the chair of the Campus Activities Council and other appointees who meet on a regular monthly basis with Athletic Director Castiglione and people from his staff, primarily Rick Hart, to discuss issues that affect students and the Athletic Department.

The Athletic Department, contrary to popular belief, sells the student season ticket for both football and basketball at one of the largest discounts in the Big XII. In addition to our tickets being more discounted than any other school, we don't have to pay an athletic fee. Because the Athletic Department sells the student ticket at such a large discount, they rightly expect students to attend the games. Before the new policy when students did not have to pick up paper tickets to every game, the average attendance at football games was extremely low. The largest number of student season tickets used in the 2000 football season was at the Nebraska game, and the number of tickets used didn't even approach the 8,000 student season tickets that the Athletic Department sold. Students weren't coming to games.

The Athletic Department came to the Athletic Advisory Board and proposed the change to the current ticket policy. As a group, the student leaders studied the proposal and made recommendations. As chair of the Student Senate at the time and a seven-year student season ticket holder who rarely missed a game, I was initially against the proposal. Why, I argued, should I have to do extra work because such a large group of students were paying for tickets and then not showing up to support the teams? The answer turned out to be fairly simple: the goal of every season ticket holder should be to support the team by going to home games. If making students go get paper tickets every week, thus making them actively work for their ticket privileges, would get more student supporters in the stadium and Lloyd Noble, I was in favor of the plan.

And guess what? It worked. The Athletic Department reported back to the Athletic Advisory Board after the 2001 football season that the average student season ticket holder attendance was significantly higher than in the 2000 season. Students were back in the stadium supporting the team.

Now, before you get the idea that this group is just a rubber stamp, the Athletic Department came to us before last basketball season and proposed moving the student section from the middle of the court to behind both backboards. After much discussion, the Board recommended not moving the student section, so the Athletic Department didn't move us. Now hopefully this season we can fill up Lloyd Noble because the basketball team deserves to be supported like the football team.

So, I guess the moral of my story is to utilize official avenues of protest before you complain. If you don't like the student season ticket policy, let one of your student government leaders know. If a large majority of students are adamantly against the ticket policy and the reasons that we agreed to change it, I know that your student government leaders would convey that message and the Athletic Department would respond. They have in the past and I have no reason to suspect they'll stop listening to students anytime soon.
hello there & you too