Your View: Building Naming Issue Continues to Rile Alumni

Editor, The Auburn Plainsman

Good evening everyone.

It has been quite some time since we last contacted this membership in regards to the new Student Center/Foy Student Union. Not much has changed in the stance of the Board of Trustees in opposition to naming the building after Dean Foy.

The Resolution in the State Senate we wrote you about was killed in session due to the inaction of Senator Lowell Barron. Even with the overwhelming showing of support for the Resolution by so many members of the Auburn Family, Senator Barron did nothing to further the movement to continue to honor by Dean Foy with his name on the Student Center.

To reiterate our point of view at Petition to Save Foy, we have been worried that the University has made an ideological shift from focus on Family and Tradition, to a focus on money and branding. Alumni from across the nation and across generations are in support of Family and Tradition. The administration of the university is not. I will not bore you with the examples already previously laid out in the past year, but with another instance involving a new policy-one that also centers around the student center.

Besides having paid, on-campus, non-RV tailgating spots set up at Auburn this year, the administration has decided to block off access to parts of the Student Center as well. This is not because they don't want any of the thousands of fans to wander in to restricted areas of the center, but because they don't want any of the thousands of fans to wander in to private tailgating parties sold to individuals inside the Student Center. Everywhere from outdoor patio space to the Ballroom are being sold off each week to provide exclusive, closed off areas to members of the 'Auburn Family.' The prices of the rooms and areas of the building aren't going cheap, either. The lowest at $300 and going all the way to $1,200 for the Ballroom. Most of these areas will be catered by the University, as well.

Is the new Foy only a money-making opportunity for the Board of Trustees, or is it an open space made for the students and alumni to freely gather for fellowship? The University plans to make upwards of $4,000 a game and well over $30,000 a season by restricting access to a student-funded building.

Some might question what the big deal is, and to us, it is quite simple. If the building is not a money-making scheme, why do people have to pay? The idea that a room has been leased, especially if it is being catered, leads people to believe that some will be let in, while others are forced out. Correct us if we're wrong, but isn't the point of tailgating before Auburn sporting events camaraderie and sharing excitement with other members of the Auburn Family? How can that occur if some members of the Family are segregated from others?

Of all the buildings on campus, the Student Center (isn't it much simpler to just call it Foy?) is about unity, comfort, and spirit. Having 'private functions' in a facility like that is hypocritical.

While this has nothing to do with the naming rights to the Student Center, at least on the surface, I'm afraid that this policy is another sign that the members of the administration are making decisions based solely on profit potential, rather than examining all avenues for growth. This will only hurt our effort to have the University give up on a bid for the $25 million naming rights to the building

When I arrived at Auburn, I thought that the SGA was an organization established to protect the interests of the students and, through an extension of the student body, the alumni of the University as well. As far as I know, not one single elected individual from SGA has made a statement regarding these private tailgates.

The only organization on campus that seems to be worried about the Auburn Family is The Plainsman. Now, with Petition to Save Foy onboard, maybe a concerted effort can be put forward to encourage the SGA to take a stand, too.

Thank you for everyone's continued devotion toward Foy, the new Student Center and Auburn University as a whole. As we start to realize that this administration is focused more on money than on the stability and success of its large, ever-expanding family, please take the time to send an e-mail, even a short, quick one, to some of these following addresses:

1) opinion@theplainsman.com - there is no better organization that can put your thoughts and concerns in to published media than the student newspaper, The Plainsman. Don't think that because you've graduated The Plainsman is obsolete to you, letters from alumni are routinely published.

2) trustees@auburn.edu - this is the address for Board of Trustees as a whole. Each e-mail is recorded, so the more that are sent, the more they are forced to ignore.

3) watkija@auburn.edu - this address belongs to Jacob Watkins, SGA president. The head of the student body on campus is an excellent individual to make contact with to directly express your concerns involving this or any campus issue.

A quick e-mail affirming your support for Dean Foy, the Auburn Family and the continued growth and well-being of the University to all those involved can do quite a bit of work, if we all chip in a little. Please continue to invite your friends to this group or tell them about it. This will be an excellent conversation piece Saturday, whether you're in Auburn at the game or watching it from afar with a circle of friends!

If the University wants to rent out rooms for tailgating, Haley Center has hundreds. If the University wants to wedge a divide between students, alumni and the administration, it can keep up its pace at $500 a room in the unnamed Student Center.

R. Nathan Payne

'08 alumnus