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Show STEGGER'S By Dan Steggell Feeling "sold out" by the Assembly, I decided to take it upon myself to get my five dollar athletic fee back into my pocket. So I called up the Athletic Department "I want a refund on my athletic fee," I told the guy at the other end of the line. "I don't like football games. I don't go to them. So why do I have to pay for them?" And then he said that I couldn't get it. The Assembly had given that money to Athletics on their own free will. There "ever was a contract requiring the teoaated Students of the University of Utah ASUU) to pay an athletic fee at all. He was right. weeks ago, an Athletic Board meeting sealed that there nover had been a contract between the ASUU and the Athletic Dept. B"t the Assembly voted 28 to 10 (with 2 entions) to give them $240,000 (est. five 'iar per student per quarter fee) without a h'tch, without a catch. 1 wonder why. folfe1"8 t0 note how manV of those rev, , u VOted radicals of election time votpH, r position on athletics and vted to glve them the bread. tolTt examPle is Bill Wilson inumanities). W,w'd LUS out to athletics, " I told thP j" -ln he Huddle. "You sold us down arn for a few football players." And ne couldn't tell me why. vt!an'rikedht0,(Bill'lreCalled back abouta hauler! wn ag0 when canpus security Bldg " awav for sittin8 in tne Park Athletic Dept. joined in the enlightening pipe-passing ceremonies more often than not. "They need their protein. . ." I thought back. It's interesting to note that the Athletics Department out of their one-and-a-quarter million dollar budget allocated $4800 for tutoring the squads. Perhaps they haven't heard of the free ASUU Tutoring Society. Perhaps they have. . . The role of athletics in a community of academia seems inconsistent. Granted, by continuous funding of athletics, the University reaps the rewards of million dollar donations and support in the Utah State legislature. But why is it that students, who go to the University for an education, not for a show of might and strength, are mandatorily forced to support war games such as football, basketball, et al? One looks at the role of the ASUU Assembly when it approved the Athletic allotment and wonders why. But whether or not the Assembly approved the funding, ' the money would have been spent by the athletes. Some members of the Assembly, such as Wilson, Hansen, and Sorensen, realized this. That may in some way have justified their vote. But their vote was still wrong. For those who cannot support mandatory funding of athletics (i.e. this poor undergraduate un-dergraduate Chrony columnist), a vote of defiance would have shown the "higher-ups" "higher-ups" that giving the money to Athletics was not what the students wanted But the Assembly didn't defy; they sustained the "higher-ups." And the students were screwed How could a radical of yesteryear who defied the administration in their headquarters now side up with them? It's a mystery. And then there are Dave Hansen (Soc. and Behav. Sciences) and Pete Sorensen (Humanities) who ran on a platform of "Give ASUU. a Chance." They both voted for the athletic allotment. They both blew their chance. To top it off, there's Steve "Philo" Johnson (Soc. and Behav. Sciences). Philo would like to see Utah get out of the WAC. He would like to get rid of football entirely. He abstained. The two leaders of the opposition to funding athletics are Barbara Croft (Humanities) and Bob Curtis (Engineering). But these two were looked down in last February's election as the conservatives." The whole idea of giving a dime to some "dumb" football player (not that every football play football player is dumb-just a few) is absurd to one who thinks football is absurd. But a look at the Athletic budget for this year is even more absurd. I was down at the Rodeway Inn the other night when what to my wondering eyes should appear? None other than the football team of whom we have grown so fond. They were having their emaculately prepared steak dinners (ASUU financed, of course). "Hey, how come the brawny ones need to be fed such expensive cuisine? Why should they be treated to soft beds and clean sheets at my expense?" I asked a passing jock while eating my double burger. "These boys need their protein. They need their strength. They need a good night's rest for the big game tommorrow," the jock said. "If it wasn't for these athletes the University would be nothing." He proceeded on. I recalled the other night when, upon hearing the thunder of pounding hoof beats, I jumped to the side so as to avoid confrontation with three of our thoroughbred thorough-bred muscular individuals. They were smashed. "They need their strength..." I recall Darwin passed on a tale to me of a meeting he had with certain of the an-nointed an-nointed ones last Saturday night. The event was more or less a party of enlightenment. And our friends of the |