Assertions that UTD isn't a sports school seem to be less common in recent years, but the mantra still has its devotees. Within the last year, teams have carried UTD's name outside the conference into NCAA play in other states and with schools from around the country. That means UTD is increasingly a school known for and judged by athletic performance. But the kind of sports school we're going to be depends on students who may never take the field or even see a game.
Here's why: Athletics programs and facilities are funded by Activity Center Fees. Fee increases must be approved by students in referendum voting, and the fee currently included alongside tuition in registration costs is as high as it can be until students vote to raise it again.
This means the notion that sports is not a priority at UTD is not just wrong, but slightly dangerous. Unless students value athletics and recognize the need for more facilities, which are currently booked nearly every hour of the week, there will be no growth. Individual students will gain skills, but there won't be more faculty, training opportunities or expansions of sports programs.
This will inevitably limit how far UTD can take their national play. There are two options: ask student athletes to stop doing so well, or increase support as programs mature and grow.
More exposure to sports events is the only way for students to know whether or not they support raising fees.
We're not going to scold students for not attending games - that's an annual ritual reserved for columnists. Getting large numbers of students to at least one game in their college career is going to require the help of faculty.
Requiring Rhetoric 1101 students to fill one of their six required event attendance slots with an NCAA sport game would be a major step towards helping the student body know what they're investing in when they consider fee increases. More broadly, any faculty member who has the authority to give extra credit or assign a project could find a way to turn a game into a physics problem, an essay prompt or a figure study for animation.
Should students decide to support athletics through increases in the fees, there would be resources to fix a rarely-mentioned disparity: men outnumber women at UTD, but women can choose from seven NCAA sports programs and men have six.
The university may never prioritize athletics alongside academics, but helping non-athletes see their sporty peers for what they are - scholars with many talents, is the only way to elicit an informed vote in future referendums.
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