During its Tuesday night meeting, Macalester College Student Government’s Legislative Body passed a resolution stating that Macalester should keep its football team.
It was written in response to President McPherson’s Sept. 19 letter to students that said the college needed to step up its committment to the football team or else eliminate the program entirely.
The LB voted on each section of the resolution, instead of on the document as a whole. Each section passed by a large majority. Football player and LB representative Clark Wohlferd ’03 said he was “thrilled to see that each section of the resolution was passed," calling the resolution “a complete and powerful message to President McPherson and the football committee.”
The resolution came after discussions in the LB as well as a survey of student opinions on the football program. The football survey began as a project for Romina Laouri’s and Martin Chang’s Statistics class. Chang ’04 and Laouri ’04 handed out 430 surveys to randomly selected students in classes, the library, dorms and the Campus Center. Of the 381 students who responded, there were 121 first-years, 120 sophomores, 79 juniors and 55 seniors.
The results showed that 67 percent of the people surveyed disagreed with the termination of the football program. Twenty-two percent were neutral, and only 11 percent agreed that the football team should be eliminated.
The survey asked a number of other questions, including whether the team should switch to a less competitive division and what steps should be taken to increase the team’s size. One of the more controversial questions asked if students thought that admission standards should be eased for football players, an option that McPherson has dismissed from the beginning. Seventy percent of those responding to the survey felt that lowering the admissions standards would not help the team recruit more members, and many students wrote on their surveys that this should not be done for any reason.
“Students seem to agree with the basic proposition that finding ways to increase squad size is essential to a satisfactory football program, and I think the resolution well reflects Macalester’s values in rejecting compromise on admission standards or financial aid policy in order to accomplish that," McPherson said.
LB members were happy about their resolution and the fact that this is one of only a few resolutions MCSG has passed in recent years.
"It’s great to see MCSG taking on issues of substance--being more than just an ATM for student organizations," said Nick Berning ’02, president of the student government. "You should expect to see MCSG doing more to represent students in the college’s decision-making processes as the year progresses."
MCSG members hope that this resolution will have some impact on McPherson’s and the football committee’s discussions of the issue. But the final decision will be made by McPherson after he hears the committee’s report. Craig Aase ’70, vice president for administration and treasurer, is the chair of the committee and the three student representatives are Abigail Gurney ’02, Tyson O’Connell ’02, and Benjamin Straus ’03.
"That’s all we can do, represent the students’ view and make noise about it-it’s the only power we have," said Haris Aqeel ’03, MCSG’s Academic Affairs Committee Chair. If we are truly a representative body, then our noise will count a great deal. That’s our aim."
The football committee will gather information about alternatives to cutting the team and then report their findings to McPherson, who has said that he will announce his decision about football’s future before the end of fall semester.
Students who wish to voice their opinions can e-mail President McPherson or Craig Aase. There will also be a live Soapbox Forum discussing both sides of the football decision on Monday, Nov. 12. Michael Gelardi ’02 will be hosting the debate which will take place at 8 p.m. on the dining hall stage in the Campus Center.
