Not many students are aware of this, but in order to use Bender Arena for events students must pay AU $1,000.
That’s right: $1,000. And to make matters worse, this fee is simply to reserve the space. It does not include the expenses of security, food or maintenance.
Each AU student already pays $65 per semester for the use of Bender in their tuition.
This additional fee makes it almost impossible for any student organization to host events in Bender.
There is one exception to this: Student Government. SG is the only organization on campus with a budget large enough to fund events in Bender. It’s almost as if AU caters to SG, another example of a system that needs to be reorganized.
Bender Arena is a great space that is currently not properly utilized. Apart from athletic events and a few practices by the teams, the space is usually empty. If student organizations were not barred from hosting events by high costs, the arena could be used to its full potential.
AU is known for having little school spirit, and a big part of that is that we rarely come together as a collective student body. AU doesn’t have a football team (or much interest in sports, for that matter), so the closest hope we have for a sense of community on campus are the events hosted by student clubs in Bender.
A small fee for clubs to use Bender is reasonable, especially to pay for the logistical expenses of putting on an event. But $1,000 as a reservation fee is asking for way too much.
Professional organizations that hold events in Bender are charged a higher price than student organizations, but they are not paying tuition each semester to the University. It’s simply unfair that students have to pay so much extra for services they are already funding.
More and more often it seems like students are treated like guests at AU. We can only use rooms at certain times. We have to pay for most everything on campus. Every step a student organization tries to take has multiple regulations attached to it. The bureaucracy at AU makes it extremely hard for students to accomplish anything.
If we pay tuition, we deserve to have the ability to all of the facilities at a price students can afford. .? E
edpage@theeagleonline.com
