Dear Editor,
I know by now people are sick of the debate about football and some just don’t care, but I want to refer back to Michael Malone’s article called “Touchdowns equal diplomas.”
I don’t know where he get his facts but it’s certainly not from his head. When I was in my senior year of high school and looking for a college, I wanted a school that didn’t focus on just sports alone.
Malone thinks that bringing back football will bring some poor athlete to our college. I personally don’t want to use my student loans, government grants and other funds so that somebody else can get a free ride.
It is not fair to the students who have $45,000 in loans and have to pay a part of somebody else’s fees.
I wonder if Malone knows that this university did not always have sports to fall back on. It was originally a teaching college. I also wonder if Malone was even here when we had football. It was a very poor sport in deed.
We as students should not support an athletic program that is probably doomed to fail. I have talked to students on why we need football back. Some say it brings pride to the school. So, they are saying we don’t have pride? Well I guess those students don’t walk past Yoakley on their way to class.
I would also think as a member of the East Tennessean newspaper staff that Mr. Malone would take this issue a bit more seriously. If he thinks the athletic fee does not apply to him, then he might just need to get a clue.
-Elizabeth Wilks

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