Colin Bruton, Lakeland’s assistant football coach, confirmed earlier this year that a new Muskie athletic facility is in the very early stages of planning. Around the same time, Nate Dehne, Vice president for student development and athletics, provided an estimate of the new facility’s cost: $4 million. Funding for the project is still largely uncertain, but Lakeland hopes to raise the money through donations from alumni, sponsors and friends of the college.
Initially, it could be argued that Lakeland has myriad better uses for a cool $4 million. As it stands, the athletic department appears to be in pretty good shape: the Wehr center is fairly new and large enough to house all campus sports, and the athletic fields are well-maintained.
On the other hand, the campus suites were literally falling down during the summer of 2012. Grosch is a little better, but it’s on the same path of quick decay. Parking around the college is difficult even on normal school days, and our chapel is stuck in the ‘70s.
Further, it is easy to imagine students who think their major is underfunded having irate questions about a $4 million athletic facility. Think of the minor uproar that occurred around cafeteria tables (and maybe among some topic-desperate core classes) when the figure for the new entrance project spread around the student body a few years ago.
There are simple ways to refute all these arguments against a new, donated athletic facility. First off, the athletic department is not an academic division and does not receive funding as such. All the money for the new facility would come from donors, not given to the athletic department in favor of academic uses.
Secondly, the presence of NCAA sports in college, even if the college is DIII, is a potential deal breaker (or dealmaker) among prospective students. Many of the colleges in Lakeland’s geographic, financial and academic neighborhoods are upgrading their fields. Bruton mentioned this in our interview with him— in order to keep up with other schools and continue to draw students at a steady rate, Lakeland can’t fall behind the curve.
“But, why should we ask for donations for a new athletic facility when our dorms are falling down? Why not ask for donations for them?”
Well, they aren’t actually falling down anymore. Regardless of how permanent they are intended to be, structural repairs are being made on the older dorms. Perhaps this is a question to take up with the appropriate department. It is important to understand that the department that asks for donations is not diverting funds from other projects to fuel this one because it simply isn’t possible. The athletic department is its own financial entity.
Regardless of how many students view athletics as a waste of time and athletes as falsely entitled jerks, and regardless of these opinion’s correctness, athletics remain a large part of many people’s school choice. If Lakeland can get the money for a new facility without hurting other departments, I say they should go for it.
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