Next stop for Coca-Cola’s Football Town USA Tour Bus? Appalachian State University!
    Instead of putting the typical 5 percent increase in student fees toward things we use every day, such as the computer labs, health services, book rentals, cultural affairs programs and University Recreation equipment, the Board of Trustees has approved the appropriation of this money (and the priorities of the entire university) to the enrichment of the varsity football program, or rather, all varsity athletics at Appalachian.
    Student fees will be used to renovate Owens Field House to twice its current size, turn Varsity Gymnasium into a multi-sport training facility and cover the football field with the most grass-like turf available.
    Private funds (read: Div. 1-hungry alumni and “friends”) will be used to roof Kidd Brewer Stadium and increase seating to 21,000, as well as renovate the press box and add space for the Yosef Club, skyboxes and a chancellor’s box.
    Items in Friday’s inane presentation describing the proposal were, frankly, laughable.
    However, the larger issue at hand is the inept way funds are being garnered for a project many students as well as faculty oppose.
    Administrators were rightly accused of not listening to student voice, and in fact did not and never intended to make an attempt to seek student opinion on this issue, as said by Vice Chancellor for Student Development Gregory S. Blimling at a SGA meeting last semester.
    The blind-sighted way this decision was made has become a disheartening trend at this university.
    Chancellor Borkowski enumerated the many different learning environments on this campus at Friday’s meeting.
    Here’s another one for the list: Learning by watching those in authority above you.
    What have we learned from watching the administration act in the past?
    That student voice does not matter, even if it is heard.
    That administrators do not allow student opposition to an issue weigh into the decision-making process.
    For an example, recall that little tuition issue students made a stink about last year.
    Comments made by Harry Nurkin during the meeting seem to aptly represent the fallacy in the relationship between BOT members and the student body.
    “I don’t know if we made the right decision today,” Nurkin said. “Democracy is not defined by who wins. Democracy is defined by the freedom to speak and respect given to all parties involved. Though we disagree, we do so with respect.”
    Respect.
    What an empty word unless it is followed by action.
    Nurkin continued, “I hope you [Eller] will take back that they are respected, that all of us on the board know that our first motive is to try to improve their life and while we may disagree we do so with respect and with two big ears to listen to everything you have to say.”
    We’re nobody’s fool.
    Despite these eloquent words, it is still crystal clear what has replaced student opinion as the controlling factor behind BOT decisions: money.