In just the past week I’ve seen examples on campus that show neglect for athletics. On Monday, DogHouse members attempted to bring some new students to Sweeney Field to see our field hockey team take on nationally-ranked Michigan State. However, an NUPD officer spoiled their plans when he turned away the new students and told them to attend a welcome week barbecue which was not mandatory. The officer had allegedly received orders from another member of administration, but hearing about the incident still disheartened me.
We are a community and the athletic department does all it can to get students to games. To hear that someone who represents our university had orders to tell new students not to attend a game makes me feel like the athletic department is fighting a losing battle. If the people at the highest level of our school don’t care, why would anyone else make it a priority to get to games? Field hockey might not be the most glamorous sport, but if we have students who want to attend games, no one should stop them.
By the way, our field hockey team won that game 5-0 and is now ranked No. 18 in the country. It is the first time they have been ranked since 2006.
It has also come to my attention that each year during Convocation, a crew is brought into Matthews Arena to cover up or take down all athletic banners. While the administration may think it looks cleaner and more presentable, they are covering up our athletic achievements and hiding them from students who most likely know nothing about our teams here at NU.
These banners represent students who have put a great amount of effort into bringing
pride to our school, only to have their accomplishments concealed when we welcome our
newest class to our school.
If you are a new student at Northeastern who wishes to be a fan of your athletic teams,
you need to take the initiative to find out when and where our teams are playing. No one
is going to spoon-feed information to you or plead for you to make athletics a priority.
If you are interested, there are a group of students who care to cover everything about
Northeastern athletics. Here at the Huntington News, we cover everything both in print
and on our website. In addition, there is GoNU.com, the official website of
Northeastern athletics or WRBB’s sports department, your student radio station. The
DogHouse and N-ZONE also deserve recognition for their persistent efforts to increase
student attendance at home games.
These instances make it clear to me that the Northeastern administration only cares about athletics to a point. There have been so many opportunities to be a major
competitor at the Division I level, and we have a high enough enrollment to make that happen, but the university would rather put their time and money elsewhere.
By no means do I think that is a bad thing. In fact, I can’t say enough about the education I’ve received and my involvement in the other aspects of Northeastern. I just happen to be one of those kids who would have killed to see his school win a Beanpot or find his school’s name on a March Madness bracket.
Freshmen, let me be one of the first to welcome you to our little niche, just don’t expect much to change over the next few years.
