DRC: UNT students set to vote on fee for second time

Brett Vito · February 12, 2018

DRC:

http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/mean-green/2018/02/12/unt-students-vote-second-time-hike-athletic-fee

untjim1995 · February 13, 2018

Does this thing have any chance of passing?

NorthTexan95 · February 13, 2018

oldguystudent · February 13, 2018

Watching how this thing is unfolding, I'm pretty certain it will ultimately pass. It may not have on the first iteration of voting -- which many students probably forgot even happened. This second iteration has been all for all day every night. Can't imagine it'll fail this time.

I hope all of us who were clamoring for its passage choose to open our wallets on the other side of the stadium commensurate with available disposable income. That would be win-win in my eyes.

Here's a handy table for us to increase our contributions in kind by 42.5%

Last year contribution This year Contribution
125 178

250 355

500 710

1000 1,420

2000 2,840

Edited February 13, 2018 by oldguystudent

MrStrange18 · February 13, 2018

Polls open at 8am! I have my phone open and ready to vote!

GMG!

Harry · February 13, 2018

15 minutes ago, MrStrange18 said:

Polls open at 8am! I have my phone open and ready to vote!

GMG!

Good man. Let us know how it goes and your observations if you will.

MeanGreenTexan · February 13, 2018

1 hour ago, oldguystudent said:

...

Here's a handy table for us to increase our contributions in kind by 42.5%

Last year contribution This year Contribution
125 178

250 355

500 710

1000 1,420

2000 2,840

I increased by 140% Why aren't we gouging the students for more!!!!!!1 Texas State!!!!!1! UTSA!!!!!!11!1! <Other poor, disinterested, desperate school>!!!!!!1!

MeanGreen_MBA · February 13, 2018

57 minutes ago, MrStrange18 said:

Polls open at 8am! I have my phone open and ready to vote!

GMG!

vote early, vote often....

AustinFromUNT · February 13, 2018

This is from the UNT subreddit and seems to be the opinion of a lot of students I have talked to.

oldguystudent · February 13, 2018

17 minutes ago, AustinFromUNT said:

This is from the UNT subreddit and seems to be the opinion of a lot of students I have talked to.

There are like two comments on that thread, one of which is an alum calling students chodes. I don't know how well this accurately reflects things. The sample is microscopic.

DeepGreen · February 13, 2018

I wonder, if this vote fails to pass, will it effect Wren Baker's tenure at UNT? Will he leave UNT much sooner than we would like?

UNT 90 Grad · February 13, 2018

Like it or not, athletics are possibly the largest window to universities. There are plenty of schools that are smaller than UNT that provide an education that can’t hold a flame to UNT, but have better name recognition than UNT. When these kids are looking for jobs one day, anything they can do to bump up their resumes helps. Investing in athletics is investing in the value of their degrees. Good athletics is good marketing.

TIgreen01 · February 13, 2018

I want to be optimistic, but it's been a couple years since the ole UNT crotch kick got me really good. This feels like a prime opportunity for UNT to make up for lost time on that front.

The University is pulling one direction and has been for the past few years. Why on earth would the BOR, pres/chancellor risk undoing all the momentum that they've been building and not just find a way to add an erroneous fee somewhere else that covers this?

I'm not trying to be a dill here and force more fees on students. I'm going to be paying for college for 2 kids starting in 4 years, so I fully understand the stakes. What I don't understand is how this is even debatable. It has been proven over and over and over....with athletic success comes huge donation increases across the school as a whole. It's so often said that athletics is a window into the school. I think that really short changes the facts. It's not a window so much as it is a way to improve the QUALITY of the education for current and future students---and that ultimately improves the perceived value of the degree for all degree holding alumni.

AustinFromUNT · February 13, 2018

59 minutes ago, oldguystudent said:

There are like two comments on that thread, one of which is an alum calling students chodes. I don't know how well this accurately reflects things. The sample is microscopic.

This is the 3rd thread this week about raising the fee. The first 2 were deleted because they got SO MANY negative comments.

MeanGreenTexan · February 13, 2018

5 minutes ago, TIgreen01 said:

I want to be optimistic, but it's been a couple years since the ole UNT crotch kick got me really good. This feels like a prime opportunity for UNT to make up for lost time on that front.

The University is pulling one direction and has been for the past few years. Why on earth would the BOR, pres/chancellor risk undoing all the momentum that they've been building and not just find a way to add an erroneous fee somewhere else that covers this?

I'm not trying to be a dill here and force more fees on students. I'm going to be paying for college for 2 kids starting in 4 years, so I fully understand the stakes. What I don't understand is how this is even debatable. It has been proven over and over and over....with athletic success comes huge donation increases across the school as a whole. It's so often said that athletics is a window into the school. I think that really short changes the facts. It's not a window so much as it is a way to improve the QUALITY of the education for current and future students---and that ultimately improves the perceived value of the degree for all degree holding alumni.

Because they're trying to modify 2 existing fees, removing 1 altogether (student services), and bumping up another significantly (Athletics).

..."add an erroneous fee somewhere else"... huh? This sounds dishonest and veiled. Something I would not want leadership to do.

Unless it changed somewhere along the line, NT has had the opportunity to increase the Athletics fee by 10% each year since implemented... but has not done so. It seems like this vote is attempting to make up some lost time. If it fails, I would assume they just start cranking up the 10%/yr no-questions-asked, until they get it where they want it.

oldguystudent · February 13, 2018

The past couple months have made me feel like I'm watching an old episode of the Simpsons:

GrandGreen · February 13, 2018

9 minutes ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

BUnless it changed somewhere along the line, NT has had the opportunity to increase the Athletics fee by 10% each year since implemented... but has not done so. It seems like this vote is attempting to make up some lost time. If it fails, I would assume they just start cranking up the 10%/yr no-questions-asked, until they get it where they want it.

This is not true. Why would they bother with an election if it was? The 1% added to the !0% is all that could be implemented.

I hope it passes, but I think that NT has made a big mistake in the way they are trying to implement this. Reducing the student service fee and increasing the athletics fees is just not the right optics to win an election. It is confusing and is being used by opponents to defeat this proposal. They would have been better off just proposing a lower increase to the athletic fees.

untjim1995 · February 13, 2018

I'll be SHOCKED if this thing is even close. Asking kids to vote to have their costs go up at a G5 school is tough, asking to do it at a place that doesn't normally hold athletics in a very good light seems impossible. I guess we will see, but I am not holding my breath here.

I will say this, though. If we do pass this vote, I will believe for the first time that the view of UNT Athletics within the community has finally come around to being something worthy of major support. This would make us look more like UH than UTSA, which would make future conference realignment something we would be a better player in.

MeanGreenTexan · February 13, 2018

16 minutes ago, GrandGreen said:

This is not true. Why would they bother with an election if it was? The 1% added to the !0% is all that could be implemented.

I hope it passes, but I think that NT has made a big mistake in the way they are trying to implement this. Reducing the student service fee and increasing the athletics fees is just not the right optics to win an election. It is confusing and is being used by opponents to defeat this proposal. They would have been better off just proposing a lower increase to the athletic fees.

I just answered your question in the same exact post that you quoted me in... but deleted the answer when quoting.

Hunter Green · February 13, 2018

When will we know the results?

oldguystudent · February 13, 2018

12 minutes ago, Hunter Green said:

When will we know the results?

Voting continues through Thursday, then I imagine there will be all sorts of screaming, gnashing of teeth, and rending of garments within SGA to certify the results.

Edited February 13, 2018 by oldguystudent

DeepGreen · February 13, 2018

Will the "pro athletics, pro fee increase" contingent have to worry about "hanging chads"?

Edited February 13, 2018 by DeepGreen

MeanGreenTexan · February 13, 2018

I would certainly expect there to be however many votes for "YES" as there are student-athletes on any level (that includes club teams... and doesn't the student services fee fund intramurals?). That alone should be a big enough amount to get this thing over.

GrandGreen · February 13, 2018

1 hour ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

I just answered your question in the same exact post that you quoted me in... but deleted the answer when quoting.

I don't see any answer there.

MeanGreenTexan · February 13, 2018

1 minute ago, GrandGreen said:

I don't see any answer there.

2 hours ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

Because they're trying to modify 2 existing fees, removing 1 altogether (student services), and bumping up another significantly (Athletics).

In order to do what they're wanting to do, it requires a student vote. They would not be allowed to increase the Athletics fee $4.25 at once otherwise.