Bobcatfan,
Do you see something wrong with the priorities of only $300k of a $1.3 million dollar donation going to the Business School? I sure do. When those numbers are switched, or at least 50:50, I might be convinced that the school will benefit from this move. Until then it's just throwing money at an expensive advertising program. Every department on campus needs money. It has been shown that without requiring that donation money be split between athletic programs and educational programs, the funding switches to the athletic programs and the donations to the general university funds decreases.
What could possibly go wrong?....
As far as traffic issues around a new stadium, which would have to be built, and is in the general plan for the university, the school and city are currently trying to figure out how to get an Aquarena/Post road overpass funded. It's going to cost a lot and because there is a railroad involved there are some difficult legal issues about right-of-way, since rail companies nearly had those written into the constitution. It's not going to solve all the issues and is going to be a huge disruption during construction, but it has to get built. Div I or not.
You could not be more correct. My comments were totally dismissive, as they should have been. I gave it what it deserved.
You people really surprise me. You remind me of a story from 1930s Germany. (Before I share it though let me say this is calling nobody a Nazi or comparing students in San Marcos to Jews in 1930s Germany). Two old Jewish men were sitting on a bench and one was reading an anti-semitic newspaper. The other guy turns and asks his friend why he was reading that tripe because it did nothing but promote hate and lies and just made their already meager existence that much worse. The one reading the paper looks at his friend, smiles, and says, "Yes, but I like reading about how powerful I am."
So I like coming here and hearing about what a horrible threat we are to the town. It's funny. Puts a smile on my face in the morning.
Did it ever pop into your head that people are going to be staying at those hotel rooms when they come to see games? Did it occur to you at all that they will be spending money at our stores. Did you think about any of this?
But yeah, I'm the one doing the knee-jerking. Whatever. Well, at least I'm informed. You say outside funding. I point to almost $2.5 million in alumni donations from last week alone. You talk about parking garages. The only one being built right now is out by the water tower in the middle of an empty lot. The other on is actually on campus. How is your traffic being disrupted by this? Or do you make a habit of driving through parking lots randomly on campus?
I'm not sure if you're aware of this either but tailgates take place at stadiums. So unless a cyclone blows through Bobcat stadium I don't think the entire town will have a trash problem because of one parking lot which is owned by the university. All over town? Wow.
I might be painting a rosy picture but you people just can't help but leap to the worst case scenario can you? Let me lay it out for you. We will do what is best for this university because we believe it will be good for San Marcos in the long term. Growth happens and we're not going to keep our school in the cellar. How was the name change a debacle? Please explain that one to me because it's worked out pretty well so far up here.
And I can see the tragedy in the works because there's never been a brawl on the square before that cops have had to deal with. How ever will we manage?
I suggest you look down at your own knees before accusing others of jerking theirs.
Eljefe, I see nothing wrong with that division at all. Athletics is the front porch for the modern university. Anyone that says otherwise is deluded. We already have outstanding academics but nothing pulls in the publicity like a solid athletics program. Are we there now? No. Have we set ourselves finally on a path to do that? Yes. I was thrilled to see that donation because it shows me that Alumni are kicking in like the students are. We had the largest referendum in the history of this school over the past 2 days. Nearly 6,000 students voted, which is an unreal number. 79.6% agreed to double their fees to $20 per credit hour. We're doing our part. Alumni are doing their part. The university is doing their part. I'd say that 300K to the business school with another $25,000 endowed scholarship is respecting the academic side quite well.
Thanks for pointing out the overpasses too. We're working on TxDOT funding for that but it will happen. I totally agree that it needs to.
eljefe, the traffic issues would be far from isolated to the area around the stadium. People will be coming from all directions for the games and afterward, they will be going to hotels, restaurants, bars, etc. There will be an impact on traffic everywhere and while the university may be working with the city on the overpass, they have been working against and/or ignoring the city on a number of other traffic issues, like the placement of the new parking garages that I mentioned, entrance and exit locations for those garages, placement of traffic lights, widening of certain roads around campus, etc.
To me, the issue is not whether this will be disruptive, because it will, but that's ok. The issue is whether the university is going to reach out to the larger community and bring us back into the fold. I would love to go beck to being a supportive alum. I enjoyed showing off my century club paraphernalia and thumbing my nose at UT. Sadly, over the years the university has just pushed me away. I believe my last donation was in 2000. This is an opportunity to change that.
Bobcatfan, you are the one who is not informed. You know nothing beyond your own little protected world and you don't even know that much about that.
I don't say outside funding, the university does and the team that did the research for this endeavor do.
There is not only one parking garage being built. There are several. Check the university master plan, if you doubt me. Ground has been broken on one and it is not in the middle of nowhere, it is central to two of the more difficult traffic problem areas we already have - Sessom and RR12. Traffic will be disrupted because more cars will be travelling ever more congested streets to get to the garages, from areas all over town. Or, do you just magically appear on campus and park? Perhaps that explains your cluelessness about just about everything else in town.
The trash in the commuter lot at every home game blows out of that lot in every direction. Take a look sometime, it is not easy to miss and it generates plenty of complaints.
The name change was a debacle, because students and alum were asked to vote on it and overwhelmingly voted no. A handful of people then did an end-around and got it changed anyway. Then, they started asking alums to pony up for some of the costs of changing all the signs, etc. That's when many of us stopped contributing.
Yes, there have always been brawls on the square and SMPD has always had to deal with them. It is good to see that you at least understood half of my point. You asked how this could cause any problems for the city or contribute to town/gown tension. Well, more problems on the square = more tension. More workload for SMPD = more tension. How are you unable to grasp this?
You are the reason for the town and gown issues. I'm ashamed that my alma mater claims you as one of their own. My mistake was taking your question as a serious effort to solicit differing views.
Congrats, for today you have single-handedly turned me from a luke-warm supporter, hoping that the university would take this opportunity to do some positive PR work, to another San Martian who has had my fill of know-it-all students. Luckily, I'll have forgotten about you by tomorrow and will probably be back to looking for a way to make this work for everyone.
I'm also glad that this makes you feel powerful. Every needle-dick should have that feeling once, even if it is just an illusion.
BobcatFan,
You've bought the FBS marketing hook, line, and sinker. I hope you're not actually in the business school... How exactly are the students kicking in? Oh right I get to pay more for something I don't support. Thanks for that.
I am a graduate student and I voted against it. I also own my house and care very much about the quality of life for both students and townies. The huge divide doesn't need to be there.
You obviously don't have any clue as to how far $300k goes at the university. The answer is not far. I think any donation is good, but the money should be split at least 50:50. The purpose of the university is education, not sports marketing. The university is trying to move out of it's party school reputation of the 80s and 90s, and is developing some first rate research programs. I'm proud to be getting my degree here, and I think there are great programs here, which are getting better. Shifting the emphasis to Division I will not forward this development. The truth is you can often get a better education at small and mid-sized universities who don't have all their emphasis on sports. There are exceptions, but this is especially true for undergraduate degrees.
You really do need to check the university master plan, because there are at least two other parking garages planned. One for the lot on Sessoms by JCK and at least one more by the football stadium. I'm in favor of the the university building higher density parking and improving access for walking, bikes, busses, etc., but it does need to address the extra traffic this will bring into those areas of town.
I do think the positive impact that students and the university has on this town is undervalued by some of the local residents, but it's because some of the students insist on behaving like jackasses. It's a two way street. Exactly how does going Div. I make all the town-gown issues go away?
Semi,
I wasn't saying that the Aquarena overpass would solve everything, it certainly won't. If they can improve the corridor to the highway, it will hopefully be a significant help, for that area. It is one part of dealing with the issues, which I know the university has been slacking on. The campus master plan has the student population planned cap at 30k, so it's more of a shuffling of where the cars are. There are of course effects of this which need to be addressed. With at least 25% of the student population commuting from out of town parking and traffic will continue to be an issue, but hopefully it can be improved. (now if we can just get all those lazy twits out of their cars when they only live 5 blocks from campus...)
Yep, I do but it. I still buy it. I'll continue to sell it even though I don't have to anymore.
Semi, cry me a river. Blame me for whatever you please. My coffee still tastes just as good in the morning. I'll be happy to toss it right back in your face though because I think you're the problem. You think my knee jerks? Yours is vibrating at the speed of light. It's because of people like you students feel less than welcome in some areas. It's because of people like you that ordinances are proposed that say you have to be 23 to sit on the council. It's because of people like you that for a very long time San Marcos election days were held in the damn summer when students weren't around. It's because of people like you that there has been (and is now thankfully ending) the soft and subtle political discrimination against students on campus. If you want to see what the town and gown problem really is...find a mirror. I don't mind being called a dick because frankly i pride myself on it, but don't you dare try to pretend the citizens are snow white and innocent. ou aren't.
So you know what? I couldn't care less about either your personal opinion of me or the move. We won. It's happening.
Wow bobcatfan, you prove my point every time you open your mouth. Thanks for making it so easy.
I'm glad you "won" over the other students and I applaud you for telling them to "deal with it". The divisions you create should not be limited to non-students. In just this forum, you've alienated students, alum and San Marcos residents. Way to raise the bar.
BobcatFan,
In saying some students behave like jackasses, I mean you. Grow up and learn how to have a discussion with people you might not agree with. Your attitude is just as big a part of the problem as any townie's.
eljefe, I tried to post this before, but kept getting an error.
I did not mean to imply that you were saying the overpass would solve everything, I was just clarifying the traffic issue.
As for getting people out of their cars, that's interesting as we have had difficulty getting the university to help out with bike/ped issues too. There are a number of places where we would like to build some bike lanes/bike paths which would connect to campus, but because of the campus layout we really need them to build some internal lanes/paths to meet up with ours if anything is going to work.
We get no real response from them and so we wait and we sit on hundreds of thousands of dollars for bike/ped improvements, which would benefit the students more than anyone.
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