The University Star
November 4th, 2014
Texas State University administrators and students should take a page out of the book of higher education: specifically, the passage that emphasizes education, not athletics.
Texas State does not have the best public reputation. The university is seen as a school of revelers, drunk partygoers and all-around debauchery. So maybe, just maybe, people should work together to eliminate that stereotypical image instead of strengthening it with the constant emphasis on tailgating and getting wild at athletic events.
I have had enough with the overemphasis on athletics and telling people to attend more games. I did not come to college to sit in bleachers with drunken fraternity boys and ditzy sorority girls. Students do not need to attend more games. What they need to do is attend class more often. That is the kind of attendance the university should be pushing, not some sporting event.
As shocking as it might sound, I came here to learn and get an education. Watching oversized boys tackle one another and throw a ball back and forth for three hours is not on my list of priorities.
According to an April report by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), education does not seem to be the number-one priority of many universities. The AAUP report shows that spending for athletics at four-year public universities increased from 2004 to 2011 by approximately 24.8 percent. Meanwhile, spending on academic support remained stagnant, and research expenditures actually decreased.