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“Many used NIU as a means to an end – getting an education and leaving it at that.”

A local Northern Illinois football booster really lets it rip as he tries to account for poor attendance at the school’s football games — despite a strong record of wins.

He and his fellow boosters dutifully go down the list of established excuses – an ever-lengthening list, given shitty attendance at deficit-ridden programs all over the country.

But when you get down to it, as this guy says, it’s really about morality. Many NIU students are contemptible enough to view the university as a place where they get an education. They enroll, take classes, graduate, and, having educated themselves, get jobs or whatever… You get enough of these a-university-is-a-place-where-you-get-an-education people at your school, and goodbye full stadium.

Margaret Soltan, December 28, 2012 4:14AM
Posted in: sport

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2 Responses to ““Many used NIU as a means to an end – getting an education and leaving it at that.””

  1. Stephen Karlson Says:

    It’s true that a lot of our students return to Chicago or the suburbs on the weekend. In many cases, that’s to hold jobs. There are also a goodly number of our students holding full-time jobs in the local warehouses (your party-size Crunch bars probably passed through DeKalb enroute to trick-or-treating). Those jobs are often overnight or weekends, allows for a bit of time to eat and come to class, but not so much for football.

    Weeknight football is also a mistake, as those evening hours are for second-shift classes or for working on group projects (on many a football Tuesday the activity level in the student center and the snack bar area of the business college building is as high as it would be any ordinary Tuesday). To its credit, the university administration has not requested that faculty cancel classes on football school nights, although unofficially they recommend against scheduling examinations or quizzes those nights.

    Perhaps the conference, or saner heads on the athletic board, will see the wisdom of ending those weeknight games. Saturday starts at 6.30 pm in September, yes, Tuesday at 8 pm in November, no, and enough of the Friday after Thanksgiving morning games.

    That said, I am enjoying the Orange Bowl hoopla, such as it is (Northern Illinois shirts on sale in Rockford, forsooth.) There are worse things that can happen at a university.

  2. Bill Gleason Says:

    Football Coach Kill, formerly at UNI, has now moved on up to the Big House at the University of Minnesota. There he makes the top salary at the U, approximately one mil, with incentives that could top out to about two mil.

    We also participated in a bowl game this year, although not at quite the level of the Orange Bowl.

    Another similarity is that attendance is down at football games at the U of M, especially by students who may also suffer from the disease of wanting an education.

    Meanwhile, back on the poor side of town, the mean old Wall Street Journal has just kicked the stuffing out of the U of M administration with a broadside:

    Deans List: Hiring Spree Fattens College Bureaucracy—And Tuition

    Unfortunately this is on a pay site, but arguing fair use, I’ve got it up at the usual place: http://bit.ly/TxDQ4E

    Happy New Year!

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