After the referendum held Nov. 13 and 14, the University’s proposed athletic fee for next fall did not pass.The vote was close, with 946 opposed and 859 in favor. Voting was open to students on their myLeo accounts, as well general election on both days.
“We are of course disappointed, but I fully understand that it is difficult to ask students to pay an extra fee at a time of overall economic uncertainty,” Dan Jones, president of Texas A&M University-Commerce said.
According to Carlton Cooper, athletic director at A&M-Commerce, although the fee would have helped funding for efforts made to make the department more visible nationally, the department is still going strong with their plans and aspirations.
“Basically, we are just here doing things we need to do to be nationally recognized,” Cooper said. “I saw a lot of good things after the vote and I saw a lot of good yes things.”According to Cooper, the athletic fee could potentially be proposed again in the future, but students should be better educated on what the funding will go towards before voting.
“We will need to repack things and retalk things, and talk to the campus,” Cooper said.
With the fee not passing, there is no direct hit to the athletic department’s funding; it will just take longer to reach some goals. According to Cooper, since funding is based on student service fees allotted to the athletic department, no sports team in particular will lose funding or be cut from the athletic program.
Currently the athletic department is not fully funded, with only certain amounts of scholarships allotted by the NCAA for each team. For the 2008-2009 academic year, 108.1 scholarships were given out amongst all athletic teams. Student athletes that received aid from the department were selected by the coaches for each team, with 90 percent of them not receiving full scholarships.
“Had it passed, we would have fully funded our program,” Cooper said. “Right now we are fortunate we have a lot of honor student athletes.”
Future plans for the athletic department could include bringing a baseball team to A&M-Commerce. According to NCAA guidelines, the athletic department should mirror the student body, so in order to add another men’s team to the athletic program, A&M-Commerce must develop two for women. According to Cooper, that could include a softball, equestrienne or women’s tennis team.
“All of us want to see a very high-quality, competitive athletic program that attracts the best student-athletes and that represents our university in a positive way,” Jones said. “Without the additional revenue from the fee, our funding options will continue to be very limited. I will be meeting with university and student leaders in the near future to consider the possibility of another referendum based on a reduced fee amount. But for now the students have spoken, and we must respect their decision.”