Editorial: Consider value of athletic experience
By JJ Ossola
IV Leader Staff, Feb 15, 2007
Now that you have heard all my spiel about getting to know
your classmates, teachers and campus clubs, I have to implore you to look at
athletics.
Almost unknown to the campus population, IV hosts a variety
of sports teams. With the men’s and women’s basketball teams in the final days
of regular season play and the softball and baseball season starting, there
should be something for anyone to go and watch for a bit.
There are a lot of different scenarios that could be
presented regarding the future of IVCC athletics and you the student should form
an educated opinion on what sports bring to the community college experience. If
someone stopped you in the halls and said, “Do you think team sports build
character or are an extension of a jock’s daydream?” what would you say? Do you
know anyone on a tuition waiver? Do you think that having a tuition waiver
influenced their decision to come to IV? Would you want to add soccer or track
and drop golf or tennis? What about moving the volleyball team up to a more
prestigious Division I status?
Most of all, how do you value the myriad of pieces that are
the mosaic of the community college experience. How do you value theater,
library services, computer access, career services or campus clubs beyond
monetarily? Changes will be put before this semester’s students, and we should
consider all aspects of the situation.
I know what I value in the experience, working for the paper,
and if cuts were proposed in it I would challenge the decision. The important
question is, would you?