AU students and a Kogod professor seeking to play tennis on AU's courts were repeatedly turned away this fall, as the courts were rented out to players from the local Georgetown Day School. While it is perfectly understandable for the university to try to build neighborhood relations and raise funds in the Athletic Department, it is equally important to respect the needs of AU's own faculty and campus community.
Georgetown Day School uses the courts about three times a week, but the information about their practices can only be found by logging on to the school's own Web site. The information on practice times cannot be found on the courts themselves or the AU Athletics Web site.
While a calendar on AU's Recreational Sports and Fitness page tells students about open gym and pool times, no system is in place for the tennis courts. Such a simple interface would communicate availability in an effective, transparent manner, but the Keith Gill, director of athletics and recreation, has said the number of people affected by the practices is too small to merit the effort.
By ignoring this "small pocket of people," the school has prevented a professor from building valuable out-of-class ties with students and undoubtedly impacted other students looking to enjoy the sport.
The match point of this whole situation is that AU has yet again put the neighborhood ahead of its own community. There are limited facilities on campus, and with club sports, varsity teams and casual athletes all competing for space, compromises must sometimes be made. However, AU should attempt to allocate these resources fairly, and if facilities are regularly used by outside groups, the information should be given to the campus community in a clear and timely way.
