Letter misses point of issue
My letter is in response to the letter by Kris Higdon in the
April 25 issue of the Herald.
While I do appreciate Mr. Higdon's opinions, I believe that
he has missed the point of the heated debate on the athletic
budget.
The debate is not about winning or losing games, it is about
neglecting academic programs while pouring millions of dollars
into the sink-hole of athletics.
I would like to point out to Mr. Higdon that the purpose of
any university is not to have an athletic program.
The purpose of a university is to provide quality education
to students.
At Arkansas State University that focus has become lost.
The administration cannot continue to rescue athletics while
leaving academic programs to suffer.
Mr. Higdon stated in his letter, "Athletics is not the
cause of the problems at ASU, it is the only viable avenue to
solve them."
If that is the case, then maybe we should convert from a university
into an arena football team.
At the rate we are going, academics won't be able to continue
to operate, so we might as well make use of the athletic facilities
we have.
No, athletics is not the cause of the problem, but it does
hinder what little progress the academic community at ASU is
trying to make.
I believe that ASU should shift it's focus from being a winning
athletic institution, to becoming a first class academic institution.
We should start paying our professors a decent amount.
We should make sure that each department has the funds to
operate throughout the year.
After that is done, then we should take care of athletics
Beth Ephlin is a senior political science major of Luxora.
