[Uosenate] President’s response to our “Supporting the ASUO’s decision…” motion US20/21-08

[Allen D. Malony]

Hi,

By my calculations, if $1.2M is being given to the athletics department
to provide 5,000 sports passes, then the university's "cost" is $240 per
pass.  On top of that, the students then have the privilege to pay another
$100 per pass.  So, in reality, the athletics departent is gettng $1.7M.
I could easily imagine a "pass" costing 50 cents to print.

Come on, really?  UO has to pay the athletics department $1.2M just to
get their "commitment" to provide student tickets?  Are you telling me
that the athletics department would just decline to provide any student
sports passes, discounted or not, if they had a choice?  If so, the
university is effectively paying a bribe to the athletics department.  Is
that what is gong on here? 

What would happen if no one bought the sports pass?  Would athletics
just pocket the cool $1.2M?

Sorry, I do not get it.  Without being more transparent about what other
things this money could be used for, it basically comes across as a
payoff to the athletics department.  I seriously doubt that this money
could be used only for this purpose.

There are many better ways to use this money than just giving it to the
athletics department.

Am I missing something?

Allen

Dr. Allen D. Malony
Professor, Department of Computer and Information Science
Director, Oregon Advanced Computing Institute for Science and Society (OACISS)
University of Oregon