VIEWPOINT / LETTERS : CSUN Administration Should Support Football

It’s hard to believe how Long Beach State can open their multimillion-dollar Pyramid complex and Cal State Northridge President Blenda Wilson, with her highly acclaimed unique talents, can’t make a commitment to Northridge’s underfunded football team.

And where has the creative thinking of the athletic department been? How come all of the businesses in the Valley who belong to various chambers of commerce haven’t been sent free tickets to opening games along with an application for tickets for the rest of the season?

The students who allegedly voted down the student referendum to support athletics with a higher student activity fee (a huge part of the vote coming from off-campus facilities where students don’t get involved with activities) should now understand that an admission fee may be charged to gain entrance to school athletic functions unless students purchase a semester pass to all athletic events.

If Ron Kopita, the Northridge dean of students, can tell us that interest in keeping the football team is running 50-50, then why can’t he forget the disinterested 50% and start concentrating on what he’s going to do for the normal 50%?

Finally, when is someone at Northridge going to step up and show some leadership and commitment to the football program and begin marketing it to the point where it will help finance the athletic department instead of tearing it apart from within? How many athletes have we lost due to a lack of leadership? How many athletes have gone elsewhere because the program is in limbo?

The administration at Northridge should concede that the ‘60s and ‘70s are over. Get with it or get lost.

Michael Hannin

Woodland Hills