Letters to the editor
Bring back football
To the Editor:
It has been over 14 years since Santa Clara University decided to discontinue its intercollegiate football program. In those 14 years, football has become an even more expensive and challenging sport for a middle-sized school to sustain. I agree with our current administration that a Bronco football team will probably never be practical when played at the Division 1 level.
I've met many students on this campus that played football in high school or would love a chance to play in college. Working in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, I also meet prospective students every week that are disappointed that our school can not offer them the entertainment and excitement of a football program. I feel as though it is time for our university to look into options that would allow this to become a reality.
There are a few schools in the country that have started to field club football teams. Much like the club lacrosse and rugby teams we currently have, these organizations would field their own teams, manage their own programs and create their schedules outside of most NCAA restrictions.
A club team would probably play an abbreviated schedule against opponents such as the University of San Diego, San Jose State University, Sacramento State University, Cal Poly and University of California, Davis. Nearby schools that do not have programs but might also be interested in starting up a club program of their own include Saint Mary's College and the University of the Pacific. Two other Catholic schools, Marquette University and Xavier University, have recently started club teams.
I think it is in the school's best interest to look into what it would take to start a club football team on campus that could play a few exciting games each fall and bring America's college sports pastime back to Santa Clara. I think all Broncos would love to see the day that football comes back to Buck Shaw Stadium.
Brian Ross
Finance '08
New core is only proposed
To the Editor:
The March 1 editorial in the TSC spoke of "the new core, which will be in place beginning in the fall of 2008..." However, there is only a proposed new core, one proposed by a committee of just seven people, which needs to go through a long approval process, starting with an advisory vote by faculty on April 17 and ending with approval by the President and the Board of Trustees. This process is by no means automatic, especially when many faculty like myself who see no improvement over the present core will likely vote against the proposed new core.
Peter Ross
Senior Lecturer, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science