That's my college! ::grumble::

Let's spend money we don't have, shall we?

Now don't get me wrong - I love football, as we know. I'm not a huge college football person, but I definitely understand the surge of RU fandom as of late, after decade upon decade of losing, Let the Bells Ring, etc. But this is ridiculous. Rutgers, like all New Jersey state schools, has been losing state budgeted money for years now. The deficit has lead to class sections being closed, whole classes in themselves being canceled, no new teachers to replace those that retire, among a heap of other problems.

That isn't to mention the physical condition of many of the dorms and classrooms at the school. Only $11 million has been allocated for this. It's really a disgrace. The dorms on Busch are nice, sure, and the research-science classrooms and labs are doing quite well, but the humanities classrooms are very old and very cramped. RU really needs a new lecture hall or two more than anything else.

So now the school is borrowing money to fund this stadium expansion, which will have more luxury boxes, seats in general, it'll appeal to a higher-priced clientele. Meanwhile, the die-hard fans, mainly students, alumni, and locals, will be stuck paying the bill. It feels as if they don't "need" the students anymore, who used to show up because of free admission. They're beyond that, you see. Seat licences? Even the Giants don't do that...yet.

I wonder if this will turn into a Red Hook-like situation. You build up, trying to lure businesses and such, they come and buy luxury boxes, but then noone ELSE shows up (in Red Hook's case, growth stalled), the team isn't necessarily in a Bowl game, and it was all pointless. I almost hope that happens, maybe as an example for the whole state - you can't buy what you can't pay for, and you can't make students/taxpayers make up the difference without driving them away.

Labels: sports