Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

U. Arkansas student govt. cancels football road trip
By Tina Korbe
Arkansas Traveler, U. Arkansas
October 04, 2008

Associated Student Government officials at the University of Arkansas said they decided to cancel the 2008 Rollin' with the Razorbacks program because just 42 students signed up to travel to the Auburn game the weekend of Oct. 11 and student fee money could be put toward programs that would benefit more students.

"It was a tough decision for us to make, but the student support just wasn't there," ASG chief of staff Megan Francis said. "We wanted to be responsible with student fee money, so because of the lack of support, we decided to cancel the program for this year."

The ASG, the Residents' Interhall Congress and the Athletics Department sponsor Rollin' with the Razorbacks. Each year, the program enables up to 100 students to attend an away game at a low cost, ASG officials said.

This year, the price to travel to Auburn would have been $35, up from $25 last year, and the fee would have included transportation to and from the game, a ticket to the game, a T-shirt and a tailgate party, according to ASG officials.

"That's a pretty good deal," said Robyn Hanna, a sophomore majoring in business and English. "That's not even as much as just the gas would be."

The cost to the sponsoring organizations, however, would have been a bit higher.

ASG officials originally anticipated the cost to ASG, RIC and the Athletic Department would be about $165 a student, said Blake Burckart, ASG director of athletic relations.

That conservative estimate was already up from last year because gas prices are higher this year and because Auburn is further away than the 2007 program destination of the University of Mississippi.

With just 42 participants, however, Burckart said the cost of the program would have been higher still: about $225 a student.

That high price ultimately caused ASG officials to call off the trip.

"It's not that we don't want to have the program -- we do -- but it wouldn't be fiscally responsible," Burckart said.

It would have required the ASG student fee money of 16 students to send one student to Auburn, he said.

Students cited a lack of publicity and a lack of interest in the football season as reasons to not participate in the program, although they mostly said they considered the program to be worthwhile.

"I would imagine that many students just didn't hear about it," Hanna said.

Sophomore civil engineering major Chase Knauts and junior English major Jordan Johnson were among those who didn't know about Rollin' with the Razorbacks in advance of the Oct. 1 application deadline, they said.

Knauts said he probably would have gone to Auburn had he known about it.

Francis said ASG officials did all they could to publicize the event. They ran a slide on Razorback Information Board television, as well as an ad in the Traveler. They sent e-mails to various list-servs and encouraged ASG and RIC senators to spread the word about Rollin' with the Razorbacks.

"With any program, we always feel like, with a little more publicity, we could have increased participation," Francis said, "but, in the end, there just wasn't an interest in the program."

Johnson thinks the caliber of the football team probably affected student interest.

"Our team's not too good this year, so that probably had something to do with it," he said.

ASG officials agree.

"I think students are just a little bummed about the season this year," Francis said. "Obviously, it's easier to support the Hogs when they're winning, rather than when they're in a rebuilding year. ASG wants to support the Razorbacks, whether they win or lose, but if the student interest isn't there, then we have a responsibility to use our student fee money responsibly."

Cody Kees was the ASG director of athletic relations last year when the Rollin' with the Razorbacks program met capacity.

Participation in the program, Kees said, "revolves around how the Hogs are doing."

Football player Jerell Norton said he was sorry to hear the program had been canceled. He thinks Rollin' with the Razorbacks is a positive program because it gives students the chance to experience first-hand the college football scene somewhere else.

"Those kids that do want that opportunity and are looking forward to that experience -- to take that away from them, that's just wrong," he said. "Whether 12 people or 200 sign up, they should have the program."

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