A sophisticated bully can give a Cal State Long Beach freshman an atomic wedgie, stuff him in a locker and steal his or her lunch money; all while convincing the freshman it’s a favor. The Beach Legacy Referendum is precisely that masterful $5.3 million bully.
Imagine if the BLR were offered as an option. How many would voluntarily pony up knowing they still had to buy textbooks, pay rent and eat? I’m guessing not many. Yet, we current students are being asked to pass this pre-admission fine along to the future.
Responsible voters should realize state and national economic crises aren’t going away soon. It’s hitting CSULB students hard, with more than 11,000 receiving needs-based financial aid.
Sadly, many current juniors and seniors supporting this fee/tax/penalty will shirk responsibility and escape unscathed by voting yes. Payment won’t come due until after they’ve changed addresses.
California State University and CSULB funding is being cut drastically. Tuitions will rise by 10 percent each of the next few years beginning this fall. The city of Long Beach bleeds from 12 percent unemployment and we’re witnessing the new face of homelessness.
Building a new soccer stadium because we don’t have nightlights requires we block out many students who will already have a hard time paying their way. Initial victims of the BLR will be international and undocumented AB 540 students, who receive no institutional financial aid and are barred from legal employment.
Increasing fees for athletics is hardly the critical necessity the BLR team proclaims. Title IX compliance and field maintenance can be accomplished for a fraction of what they’re requesting.
Much of this shell game was built on insults; No. 1 was not asking Long Beach to chip in, considering the original BLR is feathered with benefits to the entire city.
Equally demeaning is that improved fields and balloon scholarships will invite a higher caliber athlete. This offends current athletes busting their humps to represent. It’s like saying, “If we had better facilities, you second-and third-rate youngsters wouldn’t be here.”
The definitive insult is the hackneyed “to enhance the value of your degree.” If this were remotely true, it’s still selfish to pass on hardship to others. This slap in the faces of 36,000 students alludes, “Your degree means squat without boasting a sports icon.” Stellar athletes like Evan Longoria are here today, big league contracts tomorrow. Claiming we can’t secure jobs without their 11 o’clock highlights is nonsense.
Where will engineers, teachers and scientists work if Misty May eludes our resumes? No offense to Jeff Weaver, but that bullshit is pure spin. It’ll be rare when a future employer waves us because we don’t have a championship rugby team.
If sales pitch was a bucket, this wouldn’t hold water. Corporations look for the meat in our degrees, which comes from classroom accomplishments, not by condemning new students to lights-out at the orphanage.
I’m proud CSULB is committed to advancing opportunities for those who follow in my footsteps. If the BLR passes, I will shamefully hang my head that we screwed up the line in our Alma Mater professing CSULB as a “Citadel of Truth and Right.”
If tomorrow’s students wish to play Ultimate Frisbee, they’ll be forced to play with paper plates, while urbane thugs admire some freshman’s undershorts flying from our flagpole. Our “legacy” should be responsibility, not frivolity.
Duke Rescola is a senior journalism major and the opinions editor for the Daily Forty-Niner.
It’s not looking very sunny, Sonny. Get used to starvation because you’re going to experience a lot of it.
Our sports team sucks, look at our basketball team, they got a nice pyramid to play in and they STILL SUCK, we will never compete with USC and those schools, we will gain recognition for having a Football team that gets their butts kicked left and right by other schools. I cant afford to pay an extra $200 i am not a trust fund, i am barely making it as it is, those 200 extra a year can feed me for a whole month PLEASE VOTE NO..
Thank you for your pointed and accurate arguments, Mr. Rescola, but I fear this comes too late. Before students vote on this they should visit a career/internship fair to determine for themselves what exactly future employers are looking for. They would discover that greed, selfishness and lack of concern for consumers are not welcome attributes. This referendum defines all of those detrimental character traits. I know of not one single success-minded executive outside of public relations that would consider an athletic DNA as a consideration for future employment—not one. If you walked into my Human Resources representative and said, “I helped pass the Beach Athletics Referendum at Cal State Long Beach” my eyes would cross and I would fire that representative immediately after asking them to show you the door. Then I would round-file your application. Think about the sales pitch youngsters because your careers ARE on the line!
Big picture syndrome: Athletes put the first man on the moon and ended slavery. Athletics invented many uses for peanut butter and is working on the cure for cancer and AIDS. Athletics solved our global problems of environmental waste and poverty. It should all be about Athletics, then shouldn’t it? It’s certainly the only way to “enhance the value of your degree.” Just listen to the athletics department and they’ll confirm these statements.
95 dollars is just way too much. I wouldn’t mind paying an additional fee, but if it was closer to 20 or 30. Even if it was reduced, that’s still a lot of money that is going to the athletics department. 95 dollars plus the 110 is killer.
Anyone with foresight and a genuine “team-player” sensibility would recognize that the next several years ahead are likely to be a painfully rough ride for those students fortunate enough to helm the financial resources to attend, much less remain, in college. In a more stable and solid economy, a thoughtful, intelligent athletics expansion fund would be more welcome for consideration — as long as the university’s emphasis on first-rate academics and faculty, in serving a diverse student body, can be afforded as well. Meeting THAT imperative first and foremost — where state and nationally renown athletic teams serve high standards of scholastic achievement equal to their athletic pride, but no less — is what makes a university truly worthy of its human contribution to our communities and our future. Thinking about what’s best for the students and campus as a WHOLE, now and in treading through the interim years ahead, is real teamwork. Working toward that goal — one of common, not divisive, self-serving interests — is the team to root for.
Men’s Health has quoted many studies from CSULB when it came to certain health/exercise studies. We do hear a lot about our sports, but we hear a lot more about our school in other places. Everyone talks about that singer for Sublime being an alumni, should we make a Musicians’ Legacy Fund just for them? Everyone talks about Steve Martin and Steven Spielberg, so should we establish Entertainment Legacy Funds just for them? Besides, we hear about those three a hell of a lot more on the TV than we do with Misty May or even Coach Monson.
When was the last time someone mentioned Long Beach State on national TV not sports related???? Hmmm…this is a hard one….that’s right, Steven Spielberg (when he graduated from CSULB). Ever heard of him? He was even depicted with a LB hat on a South Park episode. Now that’s what I call national attention. It appears mr “fed up” is an athlete looking through his own lens. Get your head out of your own a$$ and realize that people work hard for their money so they can afford an education. CSULB students don’t have silver spoons in their mouths. They are working students who struggle to improve their lives. Their degrees are worth more because they graduate and make a difference in their communities, not because some guy hits a home run. You insult their efforts.
When was the last time someone mentioned Long Beach State on national TV because of a well know alumni who majored in journalism, engineering or ethnic studies? But it does get mentioned because of Misty May and a lot of our former baseball athletes, not to mention our basketball coach. Come on folks, perception is everything. When a school is mentioned on national TV the perception is that it’s a better school. Get your heads out of the sand and look to the long term.
This only makes sense because Tracy is a racist, lol. He really isn’t though. It’s an inside joke.