Valentine’s Day was filled with broken hearts for Boston University’s sports fans. After the heart-wrenching defeat at the hands of Boston College in the Beanpot final, a somber mood descended on campus. Nevertheless, the BU Athletics Department took the opportunity to press on with announcing new additions. The university is facilitating the addition of a varsity men’s lacrosse team – a move that will be received favorably by the student body. Lacrosse is definitely a popular sport that will attract fans, school spirit and revenue to BU athletics; however, it leaves the existing club team uncertain as to whether its participants will be members of the new program.
The department will also build a field to be used by the field hockey team since it has not been able to practice at BU in more than a deade. The team will play at the new New Balance Field, below which will be an underground parking lot. The new project will cost approximately $24 million. Finally, the department announced that a women’s lightweight rowing team would be the latest addition to the line-up of BU athletics, effective by the 2013-14 season.
Lightweight women’s rowing sounds awfully specialized and is another instance where BU’s athletic specialty programs exclude a majority of the student body. A team that will be made up of females less than 130 pounds holds a grim future of lackluster audiences, no new or exciting competition and would only further a dwindling sense of school spirit here at BU.
It’s a shame the Terriers didn’t emerge victorious from the Beanpot Monday night, because that would be the only reason an announcement regarding BU spending $24 million on a field and a parking lot would have gone unquestioned. The plan for the new field has been in the works for ten years, and since the field hockey team is well-respected, it’s understandable it deserves its own playing field. What is unacceptable is that millions of dollars will be contributing to a brand new parking lot.
Parking space can only enhance the overall campus to such an extent. The new project seems to be synonymous with all of the other adventurous yet obscenely costly addition BU intends to make. The want to improve the campus is admirable, but why spend millions of dollars on new projects, when there is indescribable ooze allegedly coming out of Danielsen’s walls? Surely there is a more cost effective way to improve BU athletics. The harsh reality is that $24 million surely won’t just be “partially” funded by your undergraduate student fee.
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Not sure why adding Lightweight womens rowing would be a problem for anyone. Opening up opportunities for normal-size folks should be applauded. Right now the U.S. National Rowing Team is comprised mostly of women over 6’2″ and men over 6’5″. Lightweight women’s rowing will get more competitve with this addition and will be a signal to football schools to add such programs to meet Title IX requirements. This helps the Olympic movement and strengthens the Boston rowing scene which is amongst the best in the world.
Let’s be honest: This field has been needed for a very long time. The parking lot underneath it will help to offset it’s cost because surely parking will not be free. Lacrosse is a fun spectactor sport and will add life to West Campus, and to overall school spirit. At the undergraduate level, sports are important for recruitment of the best and brightest.
Whether we want to admit it or not, we know that our friends just up Comm Ave have more pride in their school when they see their football team on the national stage. Regionally, BU hits this only with hockey.
And while Danielson may be oozing funk, what does that have to do with a new field? BU has been making serious improvements to East Campus over the past 5 years, the new student center, the Bay State brownstone renovations, the classroom upgrades in Engineering, CAS, etc.
Are the editors against lacrosse because it will be played in a $24 million facility?
No, they’re against women’s lightweight crew, because they assume (probably rightly) that it won’t attract crowds. Your point being?
Why link crew with the parking lot in the headline? Why mention the weight limit of female rowers at all? What’s that all about?
Overall, one questions whether the editors should be editing, or on Fox Noise or something.
“Lightweight women’s rowing sounds awfully specialized and is another instance where BU’s athletic specialty programs exclude a majority of the student body.”
What a moronic statement. First of all, suggesting something is bad because it “sounds awfully specialized” reflects A) a lack of knowledge regarding the sport the author(s) attempt to denigrate, and B) relies on the asinine premise that specialization is bad, despite never defining specialization OR accounting for the fact that nearly every other sport is “specialized” in some way. How can these editors complain about “a dwindling sense of school spirit here at BU” while attacking new teams from their inception?
Further, guess what percentage of the undergraduate female population at most D1 schools is physically large enough to be a successful “openweight”? I’ll give you a hint: It’s pretty damn small, since they need to be at least 5′ 10 and 150 pounds. The addition of a lightweight team makes rowing, one of the only sports people can walk onto in college and still be an a successful D1 athlete, accessible to a huge percentage of girls at the university, and gives them a chance to have a transformative experience while contributing to a winning culture at BU. Further, there is a HUGE rowing scene in Boston, so the team will have relevant competitors and competitions from day 1.
Perhaps now you understand why they chose to add the sport.
Lightweight rowing will exclude the majority of the student body?
Rowing teams at BU have open tryouts for all freshman every year. Besides men’s basketball, I don’t see any other varsity sports making an effort to recruit “walk-on’s” to their teams.
Also- last time I checked BU’s population was 60% female, average height for women is 5′ 4′, and 130 lbs is well within Ideal Body Weight ranges for that height.
Sounds pretty inclusive to me.
This article is pretty disappointing for a lot of reasons. Is this really from the editors? Did anyone actually read this before they published / posted this? Maybe they need to be a little less critical of the crew and field hockey teams and be a little more critical about who they let write for this paper. This article provides a disjointed argument with no supporting basis or point. This actually looks like something you would see written by someone in junior high and that’s being generous. School newspapers can be a good tool for change but you kids need to learn how to write first and present an argument. Embarrassing.
Considering BU already has the facilities for lightweight women’s rowing and men’s lacrosse probably needs to be balanced for Title IX reasons, it is the logical choice of a women’s sport to add. Also there are several other lightweight women’s programs in Boston alone, which means inexpensive competitions are available. There are probably several thousand undergraduate women at BU that are near 130lbs and under. Lightweight women’s rowing also attract solid students in general, which is just another bonus for the university.
As an alum not into lacrosse or lightweight rowing, I too thought this article to be unfair and a bit juvenile. As the world’s sports interests don’t revolve around myself or the FREEP editors, I can say that lacrosse will most likely bring some new fans to BU athletics and that’s a good thing. That part of campus really needed an upgrade too. Now BU can boast new tennis, track & field, lacrosse, and hockey facilities in that corner of campus. Lastly, I would imagine womens’ lightweight rowing is a Title IX issue but so what? As the school is situated on a river, it seems like it fits with the other crew and rowing programs offered by the University and what is bad about giving female students more athletic opportunities? Rowing will never draw big crowds anywhere except for the Charles Regatta and if that was the sole reason for having a sports team a lot of progams in a lot of schools would cease to exist.
This article is an exercise in ignorance…
First, Since there is already a Heavy weight women’s team that can service anyone who can’t make weight for the lightweight team, the change is actually inclusive.
Secondly, the sport is the most inclusive since, in my experience, 80-90% of the teams members are actually walk-ons who have never tried the sport before. Seems pretty inclusive to me.
Good lord, editors, basic journalism… Or at the very least if this is your opinion, let it be informed.