Northwestern’s Board of Trustees on Saturday approved a $25 athletic fee that will allow undergraduate students to attend all home athletic events, including football and men’s basketball games, free of additional charge.
The fee will be tacked onto tuition costs for next year, the university announced today, and the policy will go into effect at the beginning of the 2004 football season in September.
The measure comes after Associated Student Government senators passed a bill in December that proposed the fee. Administrators, including University President Henry Bienen, said they supported the bill.
William Banis, NU’s vice president for student affairs, said the bill gives students who don’t want to spend extra money on games the chance to attend more sporting events.
“I was pleased that a student initiative had such widespread support,” Banis said. “I think it will increase attendance and I think it will support the students’ intention to enhance the overall sense of community on campus.”
The measure provoked little dissent from ASG senators when they voted on it at the end of Fall Quarter. Even though some senators said their constituents did not have enough time to look over the legislation, the bill passed without significant opposition.
“We think this is an example of the administration being responsive to what the students want,” said Sara Whitaker, a Communication junior and ASG sorority senator, who co-authored the bill. “We believe that students will, as a result of this, be able to identify more with the Northwestern community as a whole and not just on the athletic level.”
Still, many undergraduates have objected to the fee, saying they wouldn’t attend $25 worth of games — the equivalent of one football and two men’s basketball games.
The fee would not apply to graduate students.
Administrators in the athletic department said a committee will be formed to examine how to implement the new policy effectively. They said they have started researching other universities that use similar programs.
“These discussions will happen almost immediately,” said Chris Boyer, NU’s assistant athletic director for corporate sales and marketing. “Football season is not that far away, and we’re already in the process of ticket pricing.”
Boyer said the committee could face several challenges in creating a “fair and equitable” process. He said officials will have to decide how students will be admitted to athletic events. Officials also will need to evaluate the possibility that more students will show up to the events than the stadiums can accommodate.
Ryan Field’s student section currently holds about 5,000 people, and Welsh-Ryan Arena seats holds about 1,100. Boyer said that based on current attendance figures, there should not be a problem accommodating students, but problems could arise in the future.
“I think any time you have a situation where there’s fewer student seats than student enrollment, it’s a distant possibility,” he said.
The $25 amount was chosen because the athletic department would not lose money on the deal, and the amount would only have to be adjusted every five to 10 years.
Football and men’s basketball games are the only two sporting events fans must pay to attend.
