DRC breaking news -- UNT fee vote passes

[breaker110]

Yayyyyy Now we need to get a budget together to get some of our teams to play overseas here in Germany. I can never make a game back in Denton. . .

[NorthTexan95]

11 hours ago, Mean Green Matt said:

Looks like two separate complaints were filed. 

https://studentaffairs.unt.edu/sites/default/files/organizations/student-government-association/documents/Spring 2018 Athletic and Student Service Fee Referendum RESULTS.pdf

The second one was just throwing anything and everything out there to try and prevent this from happening. 

I get the feeling these complaints were filed by some future lawyers getting some real world practice.  However, I don't think the second guy should use this as a job reference since it's documented that he arrived late to his own hearing.  Ha! 

[oldguystudent]

6 hours ago, DeepGreen said:

So glad this passed.  But it does not mean that the Alumni can cut back on their donations to Mean Green Athletics.  We need to do our part.

This.  The students have taken it upon themselves to make this thing better.  We're the ones with jobs and disposable income, so we need to do likewise and suck it up buttercup on the increased required contributions. 

[GrandGreen]

I never thought this would pass, Baker and I am sure a great group of student leaders deserve praise for the victory.  

I am surprised at the low vote turnout, which frankly is usually a crucial ingredient for passage of any kind of student fee.  Baker and the AD though did not try sneak this through, but did about all they could to increase the vote to their credit. 

It is obvious that with probably 400 athletes and another 500 in spirit groups that a low turnout favored passage.  I don't think it is consequential that the UTSA and NT favorable votes were close to the same number.  The difference was that the opposition at NT  just couldn't sway many students to vote no. 

[Mean Green 93-98]

9 hours ago, greenminer said:

The 6-7% turnout kinda rubs me wrong, even if it's not surprising.  It shows more apathy than anything anti-sports.

I don't know . . . it seems to me true apathy would lead to a "no" vote.  People wouldn't want to pay an extra $125-150 per year for something in which they had no interest whatsoever.

This tells me that while our students may not generally be passionate about UNT sports, they do want them to succeed.

[Cerebus]

10 hours ago, DeepGreen said:

So glad this passed.  But it does not mean that the Alumni can cut back on their donations to Mean Green Athletics.  We need to do our part.

Agree 100%

In fact it is the exact opposite of that.  Students just voted to up their giving level substantially, we alumni need to do the same.  

[wardly]

16 hours ago, GrandGreen said:

Great that it passed, not so great about a 6% voter response. 

With only about 2400 voting my opinion of lack of student interest in UNT athletics was just reinforced.

[GMG_Dallas]

26 minutes ago, wardly said:

With only about 2400 voting my opinion of lack of student interest in UNT athletics was just reinforced.

That or it could be not knowing what's going on at their school. I graduated in 2014 and very few students were aware of votes or elections.

Generally, SGA would go to different organizations to meet with larger groups of people and those were the ones who seemed to constitute most of the voting parties. When I was involved in Greek life, they would come to our houses and talk to us but Greek life is still relatively small at UNT. I will say, most of the people in SGA are plugged in with other groups already so those people will generally support their buddies in SGA and vote in their favor.

Other than that, most students live off campus after freshman year and only go to campus for classes even if they live in Denton. Many students who do live on campus or spend large amounts of time on campus really don't pay attention to the occasional sign posted around campus regarding a vote. It isn't just athletics related elections that don't garner attention. In my time at UNT, apathy was always very high. SGA elections garnered little votes as well and it's usually the same organizations that constitute the votes.

[DeepGreen]

44 minutes ago, wardly said:

With only about 2400 voting my opinion of lack of student interest in UNT athletics was just reinforced.

And lack of leadership for 15+ years and lack of success on the field/courts have spawned the lack of student interest.  Having followed UNT since I was a student(so long ago!), I have never been more optimistic regarding the future of UNT Athletics.

[Withers940]

16 hours ago, GrandGreen said:

Great that it passed, not so great about a 6% voter response. 

Are you surprised about the turn out? I mentioned it in the "Place your Bets" Forum about the potential turn out. It starts early in life and goes until you die. People for some reason dont go and vote.

Out of the kids that didnt vote and were opposed to the bill, they will piss and moan about the fee going up. Just watch, happens with whatever election takes place. If you didnt go out and vote, you have no right to bitch IMO

[FirefightnRick]

5 hours ago, NorthTexan95 said:

I get the feeling these complaints were filed by some future lawyers getting some real world practice.  However, I don't think the second guy should use this as a job reference since it's documented that he arrived late to his own hearing.  Ha! 

Maybe Vitto will interview local UNT student David Hogg to get more insight into how it all went down?

 

Rick

[UNTLifer]

2 hours ago, wardly said:

With only about 2400 voting my opinion of lack of student interest in UNT athletics was just reinforced.

Nope.  I went to North Texas and I don't ever remember participating in a vote.  That turnout has nothing to do with athletics and all about people taking the time to vote.

[Cerebus]

Try to remember what you were interested in when you were 20... was voting in campus elections in your top 3 interests?  Top 25?  Top 500?

The campus is always covered with announcements of these elections.  Flyers, signs digital and paper, emails, tweets, I think even the UNT app had notifications.  You can even vote directly from your phone.

College students are just usually too involved to care enough to vote.  Turnout is terrible for students votes on the vast majority of campuses in this country.  

[TreeFiddy]

I hope to see the University step up and agree to match or exceed the student contribution.  Have not seen recent numbers, so the University may already surpassed the roughly $13-14mil the students will now be kicking in, but it would sure be nice to see both sides kicking in the same amount. 

As mentioned above, the alumni also need to do their fair share as well.  It would be nice to see the alumni kick in an equal amount in ticket sales, merch, giving, etc..., but that is probably going to be the toughest nut to crack.

[oldguystudent]

2 minutes ago, TreeFiddy said:

 

As mentioned above, the alumni also need to do their fair share as well.  It would be nice to see the alumni kick in an equal amount in ticket sales, merch, giving, etc..., but that is probably going to be the toughest nut to crack.

F that!  I can't WAIT to benefit from THEIR money! 

[meaniegreenie]

On 2/19/2018 at 8:43 PM, BTG_Fan1 said:

So here is a question.. how many Student Athletes do we have? 

I would hope to god all of them voted.

I was wondering exactly the same thing.  I was guessing the number might be around 150-200. Maybe not quite that high, unless there's lots of partial's going to multiple people. 

FB (80) + BB(~30) + VB + SOCCER + T/F +  ...

yeah maybe a little over 200.

If so, that amounts to about half of the victory margin.

Edited February 21, 2018 by meaniegreenie

[FirefightnRick]

10 hours ago, Cerebus said:

Try to remember what you were interested in when you were 20...  

I can't believe there isn't two pages of gif's and memes following this softball?

 

Rick

 

 

[DeepGreen]

https://goo.gl/images/zaGkMD

Edited February 21, 2018 by DeepGreen

[UNTLifer]

1 hour ago, FirefightnRick said:

I can't believe there isn't two pages of gif's and memes following this softball?

 

Rick

 

 

https://goo.gl/images/OEM7ox

 

[EagleMBA]

[greenminer]

Can someone post a cliff-notes version of what we can expect this new fee to help with?  Facilities? Salaries? Is it specific to one sport, or fair use for anything under the AD umbrella?

[kingwoodgreen]

31 minutes ago, EagleMBA said:

Nothing you can add to this...

[wardly]

On ‎2‎/‎20‎/‎2018 at 12:20 PM, UNTLifer said:

Nope.  I went to North Texas and I don't ever remember participating in a vote.  That turnout has nothing to do with athletics and all about people taking the time to vote.

Nothing personal, but not participating in a vote while you were at North Texas might say more about you than present day students.Interest in college football seems to be declining on a national basis, and it has never been that important in Denton. I am just surprised about the low turnout because it increases the cost to attend UNT in an area where there is not much student support.

[Salsa_Verde]

12 minutes ago, wardly said:

Interest in college football seems to be declining on a national basis, and it has never been that important in Denton

It is true that college football attendance had its first decline in 34 years...but North Texas had record breaking attendance at football games this past season as well. You didn’t mention that because it doesn’t fit your narrative.  

[UNTLifer]

24 minutes ago, wardly said:

Nothing personal, but not participating in a vote while you were at North Texas might say more about you than present day students.Interest in college football seems to be declining on a national basis, and it has never been that important in Denton. I am just surprised about the low turnout because it increases the cost to attend UNT in an area where there is not much student support.

I didn't take it personal. My point was that I hardly ever knew of elections, etc... outside of Homecoming elections and rarely took the time to do it back then. Considering they are now able to use their phone, I would probably have voted had it been that easy way back when. Then again, not sure now that would have worked out with the rotary landline!