Hot dogs, hamburgers, your favorite cold beverage, a good time with friends and a fifteen-mile hike uphill only to stand in a sardine-sized section for three hours — all the things that remind us of ISU football. Some of that last statement was exaggerated, but nonetheless students are being pushed farther and farther away from the athletics they deserve to be a part of.

The athletic department depends on the contributions from student athletic fees every semester and then upon donations from alumni from across the nation.

However, if students are mistreated, then who’s to say the athletic department will ever receive any future funding from those students after they become the new generation of alumni?

In Tom Barton’s Sept. 2 article, “Alumni want students closer to Jack Trice Stadium,” he brought up a question many alumni have been asking — “Where have all the students gone?”

It’s clear by reading the article that many of the alumni belonging to the National Cyclone Club (the organization the dean of students and the athletic department have chosen to favor over the students) miss the excitement the student body brings to the stadium.

Several of the alumni interviewed in the article replied to Barton’s questions with stories of how the students helped improve their tailgating experience by playing catch with their kids or just showing up to the game with an amazing amount of pride and excitement for Cyclone football.

The problem that arises is if the athletic department begins to favor the National Cyclone Club over students, future funds could dry up because students who were mistreated will refuse to donate to the program.

Students should be treated the same way as National Cyclone Club members and have access to the same facilities as the rest of the alumni.

The current price of membership to join the National Cyclone Club at the Varsity level for one year is $50. Iowa State University students are currently paying $21 a semester for an “activities fee,” which equals out to $42 a year. To me it just looks like the activities fee is the same as a year membership to the National Cyclone Club at a discounted rate.

The Government of the Student Body has already proposed a 50 percent cut in the student activities fees as a result of the dean of students and athletic department’s decision to remove 50 percent of the student’s rights to attending the games. If said proposal passes, how will Iowa State University afford to pay Coach McCarney for his duties? Will football players have to resort to playing without pads again?

Kyle Cross

Junior

English Education