Students turn down athletics fee increase
Sixty-six per cent of voters say no to $11.31 hike
by BLAIR EDWARDS
The fate of varsity athletics and sports at Carleton University has taken a critical turn as students rejected an athletics referendum question at the polls Feb. 9 and 10. Students overwhelmingly voted no at the polls by a margin of 1,624 to 845.
The athletics referendum question read: “Do you support a $11.31 increase to the Carleton Athletics fee to a total of $150 per full-time student, pro-rated for part-time students?”
Just under sixty six per-cent of student voters rejected the $11.31 student levy.
The failure of the athletics referendum question means student funds will not be used to save athletics programs slated for elimination or demotion from varsity status.
Drew Love, the director of physical recreation and athletics, says the no vote translates into a strict athletics budget with little room to manoeuvre.
The football program is dead.
“I have to deal with managing a department with existing resources, if a referendum is unsuccessful it means I can anticipate (few) new resources being made available to me,” says Love.
In a report to the athletic board, Love recommended eliminating the football team. The report also recommends demoting swimming, men’s rugby, women’s field hockey, women’s rowing and women’s volleyball from varsity to competitive club status.
Carleton’s athletic board will meet Feb. 12 and again Feb. 19 to discuss the impact of the referendum’s no vote and to review submissions made by the public.
Carleton president Richard Van Loon says the vote indicates that athletics is not a current priority for students.
“We know students want a higher ratio of faculty to students. (A no vote) says students want money spent on the faculty or maybe computers,” says Van Loon.
Van Loon says Carleton administration would have anted up an additional $75,000 to athletics had a yes vote occurred. The extra funds plus the money from students would have matched Love’s budget estimate of roughly $750,000 to maintain the status quo of 17 varsity sports and have them be competitive.
“If it passed we could have found a way to (put) another $75,000 in the athletics budget,” says Van Loon.
A yes committee comprised of six members from varsity sports was formed to campaign in favour of the referendum, but no members of the committee spoke at either of the election debates held in Fenn Lounge Feb. 2 or Rooster’s Feb. 4.
“We just found out about it (the election debates) at the last moment,” says yes committee chair Ken McDonald in response to the committee’s absence at both election debates.
The six-member yes committee includes varsity athletes from the swimming, basketball, waterpolo and football.
Other than putting up posters, McDonald says the yes committee made no plans to campaign in favour of the athletics referendum.
“Everything has pretty much been said,” says McDonald. “We haven’t really done much at all.”
The failure of the athletics referendum question falls in the face of encouraging alumni support for varsity sports. Carleton’s alumni had pledged approximately $10,000 in new money.
“The football program is dead,” says Carleton University Students’ Association president Joe Belfontaine.
He says the referendum’s failure reflects student anger. "(In the past few years) tuition has increased by over 100 per cent, there are waiting lists for counselling services and services have been cut," says Belfontaine.
"(Students) were not willing to commit money to a university or department that may not use it in (their best interest)."