Larger ticket purchase would have been risky

If we’re going to beat a dead horse, at least let me take a crack at it. As I said, the No. 1 goal was getting students out to the game to support the team.

However, this had to be done in a fiscally responsible manner. Ordering 10,000 tickets and hoping they all sold would be ridiculous. Had Student Government bought an excessive amount of tickets, students who did not care about the football program would be bent out of shape that their Activity and Service fees were being wasted. Honestly, with a student body the size of the one at USF, it is hard to please everybody.

Last week, I heard the argument that “the USF section had better be full at the game.” Well, it was. And USF won. Let’s move on with our lives. Regardless of whether a cap is put on sales, tickets would have sold out and not everyone would have gotten to go to the game. That is what’s being ignored here.

If you wanted tickets to a Rolling Stones concert, you wouldn’t show up the day they went on sale. You would plan it out with your friends the night before, get your money together and get there early. That’s exactly what happened with the UCF tickets.

Next time, I hope more students buy in bulk, and there is a cap system in place. That way, groups can still buy tickets and the tickets will still sell quickly. I hope everyone understands that I just want there to be a win-win situation in order to get as many people to these games as possible.

Frank Kerney is a senior majoring in political science

Student Government should have served individual ticket-buyers first

Re: Letters to the Editor, “SG will change method for future ticket sales,” by Frank Kerney, Sept. 19. I have been keeping up with the controversy with the UCF ticket sale Student Government conducted last week. I have read many articles and letters to the Editor bashing Greeks and/or Charlie Aguirre. I am not – and have no interest in being – Greek and have never met Mr. Aguirre, but I believe he did nothing wrong.

Now I do have a problem with Frank Kerney’s response to the whole situation. Basically, he calls everyone complaining about the situation a bunch of whiners. Saying they should just be happy SG did not have to eat the tickets. He goes on to say that every organization on campus was able to do the same thing Mr. Aguirre did. Clearly, students needed a University ID number for every ticket they wanted to buy, not just a list of UID numbers. Did SG contact every organization on campus and tell them they could do this in the weeks prior to the ticket sale? I don’t believe they did.

I’m sorry, but if I wait for hours in line for a ticket and find out that someone bought a quarter of the tickets in one helping and I get nothing, I am going to be upset. Frank believes I should just be happy that we had 1,250 students at a win. Give me a break. His letter is a copout!

If SG was going to have bulk ticket sales, it should have e-mailed every organization on campus before the tickets went on sale to tell them about it.

Secondly, SG should have waited until after the individual students had gotten their tickets before selling to the groups. It would have had the guarantee of selling them if it had a group like the Greeks waiting in the wings to clean up, but it also would have made the rest of the student body that waited in line happy. That just seems like common sense to me, but this is SG at the University of South Florida.

Andrew Read is a senior majoring in management information systems

SG should have done its job selling tickets

Re: Letters to the Editor “SG will change method for future ticket sales,” by Frank Kerney Sept. 19.

In response to Frank Kerney’s Letter to the Editor, I have to say something. Frank, how dare you call the students who waited in line for tickets selfish?

You have no idea what a lot of them had to go through to get a chance to go to the game. I bet you probably got your tickets for free through Student Government. You didn’t have to skip class and wait in line for an hour and a half or drive from St. Petersburg just to arrive too late.

If SG had done its job correctly in the first place, people wouldn’t be upset. Also, SG has to be pretty stupid to think not many students were going to buy tickets. Not only is this an up-and-coming rivalry, but the game was also only a 90-minute drive away. I knew when I first saw the schedule that at least 3,000 students would go. We probably had just as many or more students at the game Saturday, with half of them having to buy a $30 ticket.

So next time, don’t underestimate the demand from students for a huge football game, and especially don’t badmouth them for wanting to be a part of the school’s spirit.

It does little to comfort me knowing that someone who thinks so little of the student body is helping run the government at USF.

Amanda Adams is a senior majoring in biology.

SG listens to student complaints

Thanks to the USF-UCF game last week, I have two problems. The first is coach Jim Leavitt and Athletic Director Doug Woolard shying away from making the USF-UCF football game a permanent fixture. The other is the sense of entitlement of the students, who feel all were entitled to have discounted tickets offered by Student Government.

The USF-UCF rivalry should be naturally preserved. USF could use a new tradition and this is a brilliant opportunity. The game allows some students from Orlando (or Tampa when the game is at USF) to go home and visit family. It also gives us a chance to root against friends who go to the other school. It’s good for the students, alumni and the community.

The issue of the game continuing beyond 2008 was brought up as recently as Thursday by Martin Fennelly, a columnist for the Tampa Tribune.

Fennelly included a quote from Leavitt that reads: “You don’t have to travel too far. Don’t have to get on an airplane. The crowd is probably going to be a pretty good crowd. It’ll be important to both schools. The excitement’s there for alumni, fans … There are some good things.”

We need to encourage our Athletic Department to preserve this rivalry, or the letters from last week regarding tickets are basically worthless.

As for SG, don’t be apathetic. If you want SG to hear from you, I hope that you’ll come to the SG senate meetings that take place every Tuesday night at 6 p.m. in the Phyllis P. Marshall Center Ballroom.

SG wanted to start something, and it was successful. It wanted to light a spark and ended up creating a blaze. But at least it took the initiative to offer 1,250 tickets.

In regards to the Greeks, there’s a reason SG listens. The Greeks are united, intelligent and proactive. This last spring, my home organization, WBUL, had a problem with SG. We showed that we cared, and SG listened.

Don’t just complain; bring your ideas, be respectful and be a part of the solution. Be present and speak up. I’m confident that SG welcomes your thoughts.

Alex Wilhelmsen is a senior majoring mass communications.

Greeks, Student Government not at fault

Re: Letters to the Editor “Answer from SG insufficient,” by Brian Johnson, Sept. 19.

First off, let’s be real about the situation. Student Government was buying tickets at $12 and selling them for $5. If Brian Johnson really thinks SG can spend $120,000 to accommodate the 10,000 friends he says will be attending the game, then there is a serious problem.

No one could have predicted how many tickets would be sold. What Charlie Aguirre did wasn’t wrong. It’s perfectly legal. It’s the same as 400 Greeks lining up in the front of the line before anyone else and buying their tickets one at a time. Don’t hate, Brian, just because your accounting buddies couldn’t travel to Orlando.

Historically, USF doesn’t travel well to football games. Also, UCF wasn’t going to hand thousands of tickets over to the University, considering it is their stadium.

I commend the Greeks for being organized and for somehow waking up that early after partying all night at Bid House in order to show their support.

But let’s be real, Brian, along with anyone else hating on the fact that you were outsmarted. You can’t predict how many tickets will be sold. You can’t force another school to hand the entire stadium over to an away team. SG bought what it could and would have bought more, but couldn’t get the $12 price any longer.

Here’s a smart business plan: Buy all the tickets left at the face value of $30 and sell them to the students for $5. I’m sure that’s a better way to go about things, right?

Dante Tota is a junior majoring in finance.

Fear of obesity not so funny after all

Re: Editorial “Fear of fat is more funny than frightening,” Sept. 5

Since the majority of Americans are obese, I could assume that the majority of the editorial board is obese, which would explain why it responded to the article as if it were a personal attack and disregarded that the article made a logical and important point about the possible effects of widespread obesity.

Making light of the fact that “overweight people now outnumber the 600 million worldwide who do not get enough to eat” makes me wonder where your collective head is at – and your morals. Does the phrase “then let them eat cake” ring any bells?

If you’ve ever taken a critical thinking class, you may have learned how to make a logical, sound argument. I’ll give you an example of one: If the majority of Americans are obese and obesity is a scientifically proven cause of serious and potentially fatal health problems, then it is only a matter of time before the majority of Americans fall ill with an obesity-related illness.

Are you following the logic? If not, I’ll give you another example: If the majority of Americans have an obesity-related illness and the majority of Americans are without health insurance, then health care costs will rise due to the enormous number of patients with obesity-related health problems who have no way to pay their medical bills.

Now me personally, I couldn’t care less if someone kills themselves with gluttony. That just frees up one more desperately needed parking space. However, if someone’s gluttony and laziness is causing health care costs, already nearly unaffordable, to rise to completely unaffordable, that is a problem – and I would welcome the help of the government and media to keep this from happening.

The thought that one day I may injure myself or fall ill and not be able to afford treatment because the average American ate too many bonbons and watched too many episodes of Lost is very frightening to me. And the fact that you don’t care is not a good sign either.

Laura Lee is a junior majoring in mass communication

Air conditioning in Kappa an issue

I have a concern about the air conditioning systems in the older residence halls. I live in Kappa Hall. My dorm room is part of a suite, and I do not have control over the air conditioning in my room.

My problem is that my room is always freezing. I constantly have to wear a jacket and sweat pants to stay warm. It’s hard to concentrate or do my homework when I’m shivering, and it’s also hard to sleep sometimes curled up into a tiny ball under all of my blankets.

I know that going from hot (outside) to cold (inside my dorm) all the time can lead to sickness. My health is important to me because I cannot afford to miss class because of a cold. I also know the newer residence halls have individual air conditioning units for each room, and I think the older residence halls should have that as well.

Of course, getting a new cooling system for the old residence halls would be way too expensive, but something needs to be done about it. If I could at least control the temperature in my room, I’d be fine. My suitemates may like to live in an icebox, but I don’t.

Alyssa Messick is a freshman majoring in political science

Not enough places to study on campus

Have you ever just been walking around campus looking for somewhere peaceful to do homework or read?

Maybe you have obnoxious roommates who like to party all the time, so you can never get anything done. I would like to bring to attention the fact that there are few places on campus to just sit and relax. I have tried many times to get away and be alone, but when I do find a table of some sort, some other people have already claimed it.

I think the University should invest in more tables, benches and nice places to sit. Maybe do some nice landscaping around a gazebo or place some benches around a pond. I would be willing to gather a group of people to raise money for these additions.

I believe this could improve students’ grade point averages and encourage them to attend class. This is a win-win situation; students raise the money instead of taking from the school, and the campusis improved and possibly the students.

Chelsea Cowher is a freshman majoring in criminology