Should UCSD move into Division I athletics?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - San Diego
1

<p>Hey guys/gals,
I’m not sure if many people know about this or if it has been posted but I’m really curious.
Elections are going to be happening winter quarter and UCSD students are going to get the chance to vote on whether or not we should move into Division I athletics. (Currently Div II) This would increase tuition ~$165 per quarter.</p>

<p><strong><em>I’m just curious as to what currents UCSD students think, and how they might vote? Also, what possible entering freshman and transfer students think? (As you will be affected, and I will have already graduated in 2013)</em></strong></p>

<p>Here is the link to the report UCSD paid ~$28,000 to see if we could establish a football team and to see if we should move to Division I athletics, if interested: <a href="http://as.ucsd.edu/docs/UCSDFINALFEASIBILITY.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://as.ucsd.edu/docs/UCSDFINALFEASIBILITY.pdf&lt;/a> (basically says that it is time we move to Division I athletics if possible, however not to establish a football team at this time: Study</a> Recommends UC San Diego Athletics Program Transition to Division I )</p>

<p>Here is a link to an article from the guardian: Students</a> to Vote on D-I Sports ; OPINION: D-I</a> Athletics: A Lasting Investment </p>

<p>You can search for other articles if you’d like.</p>

<p>My opinion:
Personally, I feel would benefit my future employment, the alumni network, and strengthen school spirit. Also, I feel the tuition increase is minuscule compared to the long-term benefits a Division I program could provide to the school. I also think that having a Division I program could gain UCSD more recognition in the San Diego area, especially once the trolley is built. (Trolley plan: Next</a> Stop: UC San Diego) Not to mention the future prospects of having a DIV I football team even though it might not happen right now.</p>

<p>However, I also realize that tuition rates have gone up significantly ( link to tuition increases: <a href="http://images.onset.freedom.com/ocregister//lc3wg7-lc3wfk2011ucfees.gif%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://images.onset.freedom.com/ocregister//lc3wg7-lc3wfk2011ucfees.gif&lt;/a> ) It is already difficult for students to afford college, and right now might not be the best time to institute a future 2013 tuition increase when people are still uncertain of the economy. Also budget cuts could impact sports programs further, as they have been at other schools. It isn’t as if the future prospect of moving to division I will be stripped away (however, I also don’t see why we can’t start preparing now.)</p>

<p>Oh, and remember to vote since only ~28% of us did last time!!!</p>

2

<p>I can talk endlessly about this stuff. I really don’t see why most students would vote for this. I also think most students have a VERY warped and uninformed view of what much of this actually means. It also bothers me that the people who do have a good grasp of what is going on practically lie to others to gain support. I could go on, but I want to see what others say first.</p>

3

<p>I pretty much agree with KingsElite. The majority of people with opinions on the issue are either misinformed, or are misinforming others to gain support. I’ve known people that claimed, if it passes, we’ll be paying for it right away, or those currently with aid will lose some of it because scholarships will be used to attract athletes. On the other end of the spectrum, there are people optimistic enough to believe passing this will instantly gift us with extraordinary school spirit and they can’t wait to attend a D1 game.</p>

<p>Personally I am against the move, because

  1. I plan to attend professional school and the prestige of my undergraduate will have little effect on my employment opportunities. This is especially the case when it will take years before UCSD gains any fame for being D1;
  2. The tuition increase is “miniscule” only to those who can afford tuition in the first place, not to families of lower-middle class who are paying for tuition with student loans and their life savings. This is especially true with the very real possibilities of tuition increasing in the near future (how likely is it that the government will grant us more aid?);
  3. Even if we move into D1, we do not have a football team and will not be gaining one in the near future;
  4. I personally believe it will take more than a move to D1 to kick some school spirit into students. Perhaps we should start with the biases that UCSD is a “premed factory,” according to The Guardian article;
    and 5) putting off a move to D1 for a few years isn’t the end of the world - or the D1 movement. I’m confident that a “right time” will pop up eventually, and inbetween the end of the Great Recession, Occupy, threats of tuition and class size increases, and the cutting of financial aid, right now is NOT the right time.</p>

<p>I do, however, want to know what other people think about this. I also want to hear more from the people that would be most directly affected by it - namely, those in the student athletics department, since they will be forfeiting a year of games in the earliest stages of D1.</p>

4

<p>I agree with kingselite and momosky also. Those things they brought up are definitely concerns, and pretty valid ones. </p>

<p>I am personally against this, and if I vote I would most likely vote no. This is largely due to the fact that the students I have seen that are in favor of this seems to be thinking pretty selfishly about the bragging rights they can gain at the expense of hundred something dollars out of everyone’s pocket (generalizing. I know, but if I do decide to vote it would to just to offset some votes by those people). </p>

<p>In terms of raising ucsd’s reputation, I can definitely see how this might pave the road for it. A lot of people aren’t really engaged in the world of academia, or just aren’t from california and the such and won’t really know about the rest of the great schools from California. Being more renowned in the college sports world would absolutely increase the fame of ucsd (assumption being made… ucsd can turn out to be pretty notorious. who knows). However, the issue here is if this “prestige” necessary for the school or its alumni (which most of current students will be by the time ucsd gets accepted into D1 I assume. let me talk about what this means for current students in another paragraph). It might help an alumni impress a friend, or it might even make a difference between in regards to being chosen for employment ( but how likely is the latter?). </p>

<p>The raise in prestige sounds great, but it comes at a pretty great costs. 160 per quarter (wait. it’s per quarter? i initially thought year… that’s even worse) for over 4 years is a pretty big damn sum of cash. Of course, college, especially the uc, are already pretty expensive, and to some this is worth the money compared to some of the outrageous stuff they charge us. However, with all the issue about rise in tuition this definitely isn’t the right time to do it. I realize that if this pass, all it means is that some time in the FUTURE they are going to implement this. So I think this issue should be brought up again at the right time, because if this pass it means this will be on administration’s agenda and I don’t even want them to look at it until they can fix all the pre-existing problems. As the idiom goes, “one step forward and two steps back”. </p>

<p>momosky’s second point also brings up an important issue about this money being a great deal to poor families. But in that regards, I believe they say that this increase of 160 dollar per quarter also accounts for an increase in financial aid for poorer families (I think this means that people who aren’t on financial aid will be paying for the fin aid student’s share. Not entirely sure if this is what they means but that is the only way that it can possibly work like that…) HOWEVER, who knows if they are lying; I certainly don’t : / So I am not going to address this point any further. </p>

<p>I haven’t actually spoken to anyone in the student athletics department about their opinion on this, and I know nothing of what they think so you can totally disregard what I say about this but I assume they are in favor of moving to D1. However, I don’t think any current athlete would really be extremely disappointed because their childhood dream was to join a D1 college is destroy, then he or she should have known that ucsd just isn’t the place. Nor do I think any future D1 athlete is waiting eagerly for ucsd to join the D1 league either (I mean that’s why we need to increase fees to pay for their scholarships as an incentive, right? Cause without that incentive there is very little appeal for d1 athlete to want to join ucsd.)</p>

<p>In terms of affecting the current students who will pay the fee, let me just say that this sure as hell won’t affect anyone I know on campus in terms of passion, school spirit, stuff to do, w/e that kinda stuff. As far as I know, no one ever said “hey let’s not go to that waterpolo game because they aren’t even D1!”. If anyone I know would ever to go a waterpolo game it would be because someone likes waterpolo or just wants to watch some sports for fun. And oh boy school spirit : / There are plenty of ways of increase school spirit, and moving our sports team into D1 is a very expensive way of doing it. This is a very expensive way of buying some cheap excitement of “oh boy. we are now a d1 school!”.
note: <em>I think I might have been a bit too sarcastic in my last paragraph. The are certainly legitimate reasons for being excited for moving up to D1, but I just personally think that some people I have spoken to are overrating and overestimating the effects the transition will have on the students experiencing the transition</em></p>

5

<p>Warren writing for me all over again. I put no in my paper, as well as a majority of the class. But we’ll see how it turns out.</p>

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<p>Let me just say this, we play universities like Cal state San Bernardino and they beat us… Where is that? I had to look it up because I’m from norcal and didn’t know we had a cal state in every county of California. Using all your same arguments ^^ why don’t we just move back to D3 if it would be cheaper and make everyone happier. Even UC Riverside is D1… EVEN UC Riverside is D1. Honestly, the cost is small compared to what you are paying in housing and tuition. If you want to save money, write the law makers and protest to get the tuition to decrease. I am confident that UCSD will move to D1 by itself soon enough, despite the nay sayers. Just like when UCSD moved to D2. Where is cal state Stanislaus? I don’t know either. nuff said</p>