Student forum offers few football ticket solutions
By JASON McFARLEY
News Writer
It wasn't the showing they hoped for, but Notre Dame student government representatives received an earful Thursday from students disillusioned by the current football ticket distribution system.
Eight University students joined student body president Brian O'Donoghue, vice president Brooke Norton and their chief of staff, Jay Smith, in a Student Union-sponsored forum to discuss this year's ticket distribution program.
"We wanted to come together to show you that we want to listen," Smith said.
He said the forum was a means to garner student input and that nothing would be acted upon as of yet.
Still, throughout the hour-long session, Smith and fellow student governors were treated to a barrage of negative reactions to a system implemented largely through former student body president Micah Murphy.
"What we have now doesn't work. This year there were long lines and a lot of confusion," junior Brian Clemency said of the Aug. 21 ticket distribution event.
Featuring a picnic at Stepan Center, this year's lottery-type procedure — in which University ushers issued stickers for student's ticket applications — proved cumbersome and confusing for many students. At Thursday's forum, some mentioned that the system may have been a burden for first-year students in particular.
"They're just coming off Freshman O[rientation] weekend, where they were getting overloaded with information," said senior Steve Harris. "Then they get bombarded with this complicated ticket system."
Smith, too, said he "didn't know what was going on, and I'm supposed to be the chief of staff."
A number was drawn to determine which student could buy the first ticket from his class, and sales proceeded in numerical order. Students without stickers on their ticket applications, were placed last in line on days that tickets were sold.
"If I were the number that was drawn first, I'd have to get in line pretty early if I didn't want to be skipped," said graduate student Bill Cassidy, a transfer from Arizona State University. "It sounds like a penalty to me."
Smith also expressed concerns about late access to his ticket application. He said the University should consider mailing the applications to off-campus and graduate students prior to the beginning of the academic year.
That would be similar to the distribution system at Ohio State University, according to graduate student and OSU transfer Paul Vasquez. Vasquez said that OSU students receive ticket applications in the spring and their tickets by late summer. He said, however, that a similar program at Notre Dame might pose problems for incoming freshmen, transfer and graduate students.
In the past four years, the University has made annual revisions to the distribution system. In 1997 and 1998, students camped overnight outside the Joyce Center for tickets. But prompted by concerns about alcohol and student safety, the 1999 system featured a lottery similar to this year's, but students were still able to camp inside the stadium gates.
Although he believes the University will not return to the campout system, O'Donoghue said, "If I could bring back the campout, I would."
"A campout to me sounds like the ultimate college experience," said Cassidy.
But while that system may be a no-go, Clemency expressed what he thinks is a very feasible idea.
Clemency's proposal is a procedure he calls "The Test." It is based on the ticket distribution reform platform that Joe Priest and Bill Kuder, both 2000 graduates of the University, ran on when campaigning for student body president and vice president in 1999.
The test would be 100 points, with top scorers from each class receiving priority consideration for stadium seating. Clemency's program would also give automatic points, based on grade level, to Notre Dame and Saint Mary's sophomores, juniors and seniors. Clemency said Notre Dame students would receive an additional 10 more points than Saint Mary's students.
"This is not about gender discrimination. If Saint Mary's students know their stuff, they'll get good seats," said Clemency, who noted that "The Test" would weed out serious football fans from those who attend games to socialize with friends.
It would do so, he said, by quizzing students on football trivia. One-third of the test would be based on Notre Dame football history, one-third on NCAA football history and the remainder on general knowledge of the sport.
There would also be statistical variation among scores to allow friends with similar scores to sit together, said Clemency. But he said that if one friend scores high on the test and another scores low, the top scoring friend would have to opt for "worse" seats if he wanted to sit by the other student.
"If you think it's about socializing, then you don't care where you sit," Clemency said.
Some students, though, expressed doubts about Clemency's recommendation, questioning how to administer it and how to make it fair for all students.
O'Donoghue said he was unsure if the University would move forward with a change as drastic as Clemency's recommendation. He said, however, that he valued the student input.
"I guarantee that there'll be some tweeking, but I can't say that it'll be an entirely new system," said O'Donoghue, who this fall begins his term on the University's ticket planning committee. "This is about what we can do to make the current system work better or to invent a great new system."
O'Donoghue vowed Thursday to keep students informed of his committee work saying he will not serve on it unless the planning for next year's distribution is made a public process.
All News Stories for Friday, September 1, 2000
