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PHOTO BY ADAM CHAFFINS | STAFFGrounds keeper Bedia Collins tends to flowers at Maxwell Place, the president’s home, on UK’s campus Wednesday.

Every flower grown on cam-pus has started its life with onewoman.

Bedia Collins works all yearto maintain UK’s grounds. Her re-sponsibilities are growing every-thing in the greenhouse, coordi-nating where the plants will beplanted and managing her crew.

She depends on her crew of57 people to water and maintainthe plants. Without them shecould not get it all done, Collinssaid.

Collins buys all the plantson campus by seed rather thanthe grown plant — she recentlybought 20,000 bulbs.

The campus grounds shemaintains includes the Arbore-tum and the hospital.

“You don’t know what youhave until spring,” Collins said.“(When designing) it looks real-ly good in the picture, but whenspring comes it can look com-pletely different.”

During the summer, Collinstakes care of all this, said Main-tenance Superintendent GeorgeRiddle.

“All the summer annualsthat you see in the bed, Bediadesigned all of that,” Riddlesaid. “There is a method to themadness. It is not just going outand putting plants wherever.”

Predicting Mother Nature isa constant battle when choosing

plants for campus. Collins saidevery year plans fail and shetries new plants yearly.

“I try to grow things that aregoing to takedrought well,things that aregoing tob l o o mt h r o u g h o u tthe year,”Collins said.“Every year Itry new thingsand some-times they donot workout.”

U n p r e -d i c t a b l eweather plays a role in planningplants’ success.

“A complication is knowingwhen the seasons are going tocome,” Riddle said. “Last win-ter was mild, so when we tried

to prepare for (the followingspring) the plants were ready torock in roll. Nature was readybefore we were.”

Collins saidthe main problemshe has is stu-dents walking ordriving over theflowerbeds.

Plants oftenare damaged byhuman traffic andCollins said shehas to watch forhurt flower beds.

“Bedia’s jobis making sureeverything is

planted properly,”Riddle said. “She does have re-sponsibilities like when snowcomes she goes into a snowplowtruck, but Bedia is different be-cause of her experience andability with flowers.”

Keeping UK in bloom

PHOTO BY LATARA APPLEBY | STAFFFormer Cats Ron Mercer, center, and DerekAnderson, right, of the 1996-97 team, with JohnCalipari at Big Blue Madness this year.

By Nini Edwardsnedwards@kykernel.com

There is amethod to the madness.It is not just going outand putting plantswherever.”

GEORGE RIDDLEMaintenance superintendent

“Bedia Collins leads design,

maintenence of plants on campus

This series counts down the greatest UKbasketball teams of all time. No. 1 will be re-vealed in the Kernel’s basketball season pre-view edition on Nov. 7. Here is No. 10: the1996-97 Cats.

They weren’t the “The Unforgettables,”“The Untouchables” or even “The Come-back Cats,” but the 1996-97 “Unbelievables”had incredibly high expectations from theBig Blue Nation.

Coming off a National Championshipand a perfect 16-0 SEC season, Kentuckyfans were still celebrating the school’s sixthnational title and the first in 18 years. Withreturning players Jamaal Magloire, AnthonyEpps, Wayne Turner, Jared Prickett, NazrMohammed, Cameron Mills and Allen Ed-wards, the Cats were poised to defend theirnational title and hang banner No. 7.

Despite the returning talent, the Cats suf-fered their share of hardships. The 1996NBA draft saw four Cats move on to the nextlevel, including junior Antoine Walker. In ad-dition to losing players to the draft, starguard Derek Anderson tore his ACL in a Jan-uary matchup against the Auburn Tigers andwas out for the majority of the season, com-ing back to sink two free throws in the Cats’78-69 victory over Minnesota in the FinalFour.

After a dominant 35-5 season, the Catsreturned to the National Championship gameto play Arizona at the RCA Dome in Indi-anapolis. Arizona went into the locker roomwith a 33-32 lead at the half. Because ofwhat is considered by some to be the mostpoorly officiated game in Kentucky basket-ball history, Arizona shot 41 free throws toKentucky’s 17. The Cats hit nine of 17 at-tempts, despite Mohammed going 0 for 6.Kentucky tied the game with 12.1 seconds

By Jared Gloversports@kykernel.com

Team competed in championship game

following ’96 title

1996-97Cats hadtough actto follow

Dear Athletic DirectorMitch Barnhart:

Fresh off of a disconcert-ing loss to SEC newcomerMissouri, for its first everconference victory, it’s timeto come out of the wood-work and speak.

The Kernel, as well asother local media, recentlyhas been denied commentfrom you regarding the state

of the football program.Currently sitting 1-8, its

state is well known. But, thequestions that need answer-ing deal with your thoughtson how this season has cometo be.

Yes, injuries have playeda factor in what the Catshave been able to do, but allteams must play the cardsthey’re dealt when bit by theinjury bug.

UK football head coachJoker Phillips, now in histhird season, has had oppor-tunities to turn the Cats intohis mainstay.

However, the progression

of the Cats’ best recruitingclasses hasn’t translated tothe on-field collegiate prod-uct. In recent seasons, teamssuch as Vanderbilt, Ole Missand Missis sippi State havegone from UK’s bottom-of-the-rung companions to ele-vating their stature beyondthat of the Cats’.

The additions of Missouriand Texas A&M should betaking your level of concernbeyond where it seems to bewith the lack of communica-tion between public and ad-ministration.

Although the Tigers ap-pear to be somewhat behind

the SEC talent pool com-pared with the Aggies, theyboth enter already preparedto contend. That’s somethingUK isn’t capable of doing, asthe loss to Western Kentuckyshowed.

Comments in past weeksby Phillips have made whatthe public already assumedknown, which is that the re-lationship of him and youstretches beyond the businessside, to that a of normalfriendship. Is anything wrongwith that? No.

Nothing is wrong withthat, as long as it doesn’thamper decision-making

abilities.Fans like Phillips, media

like Phillips, I like Phillips.It’s been said countless times— he is a nice guy. But, be-ing a nice guy doesn’t neces-sarily mean someone shouldbe granted a pass when heclearly isn’t getting the jobdone on the gridiron.

Give Phillips the courtesyof getting fans’ respect bycoming to an agreement thatallows him to walk awayfrom his coaching title, finishthe season, and then move onwith a coaching search.

Additionally, during yourtime as athletic director, the

university has seen its athlet-ic programs soar. The men’sbasketball team is among thebest — if not the best — inthe nation in the past fiveseasons. The UK Hoopsteam has gone from a non-factor in women’s basketballto one of the premier teamsin the country. The baseballprogram has competedthroughout the years. Thesoftball team has hit newheights with the addition ofhead coach Rachel Lawson,including hosting a SuperRegional. UK track and fieldobtained one of the nation’s

Letter to Barnhart: Give football investment it needs

The 2012 Susan G. Komen Zumba Partyin Pink had people participate in zumba,an aerobic dance, in the Seaton Centeron Sunday. The event aimed to raisemoney and awareness for breast cancer.

PHOTOS BYADAM PENNAVARIASTAFF

See PORTER on page 2

See BASKETBALL on page 2

CODYPORTER

Kernelcolumnist

PAGE 2 | Monday, October 29, 2012

To get the advantage, checkthe day's rating: 10 is theeasiest day, 0 the most chal-lenging.Aries (March 21-April 19)— Today is a 9 — Set yourrearview mirrors, put yourhands firmly on the wheel,and then full speed ahead!You inspire others to take ac-tion; be proud of that. Ex-press your passion.Taurus (April 20-May 20)— Today is a 9 — Invest inresearch and technology.New opportunities open up;it's likely you'll want tochange your mind. Hard-ships continue strengtheningpassion. And you win.Gemini (May 21-June 20)— Today is a 9 — Carry thetorch of greatness. Don't letsmall problems stop youfrom achieving your goals.Link up with a strong part-ner. Allow yourself to besexy.Cancer (June 21-July 22)— Today is a 9 — You'reworrying about it too much.You can really handle thecircumstances, even if it re-

quires help from others. Youpassionate side comes to therescue. There's a brilliantdiscovery.Leo (July 23-Aug. 22) —Today is a 9 — Group inputis especially helpful now.Don't be afraid to put downroots. Passion is heightenedin private. Do what you love,and love what you do. Youlook marvelous!Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) —Today is a 9 — The pressureyou feel helps you be moreproductive and profitable,but don't let it affect yourhealth. That's your more im-portant asset. The game youcreate inspires optimism.Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) —Today is a 9 — Your friendsgive you a boost, but youmust believe in yourself, too.A female provides an artistictouch and plenty of charm.Accept a romantic challenge.Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)— Today is a 9 — You havemore than enough encour-agement, and romance, too,if you know where to look.Keep searching and you willfind the answer. Optimismrules. Get the contract downin writing.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec.21) — Today is a 9 — What-ever you do, it's better withthe help of someone youtrust. Continue to push aheadin the areas important to you.You're not always about funand games, but that doesn'tmean you cannot enjoy it.Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan.19) — Today is a 9 —There's no time to waste.The trick is to accomplishgoals without losing track ofideals, and while makingtime for love and passion.It's a good time to diversify.Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)— Today is a 9 — You getcarried away by fascination.Don't get so distracted youforget your responsibilities.Your friends are there foryou. A new opportunity forpassion arises.Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)— Today is a 9 — Revisitthe idea you were workingon and make it profitable.Others are happy to haveyou on their side. Inspirethem. If you've done thehomework, you'll prosper.

LOS ANGELES — Halloween usually bringshorror movies, but the actual holiday experi-ence for most people has more to do with cos-tumes and candy than serial killers anddemons. With that in mind, the new film “FunSize” looks to play the part of the non-horrorHalloween movie. Transiently entertaining,with intermittent sparks, it’ll do until some-thing better comes along.

The film marks the feature directing debutof Josh Schwartz, the force behind such of-their-moment teen TV as “The O.C.” and“Gossip Girl.” As any given episode of thoseshows could seem overstuffed with a season’sworth of plot, it makes sense Schwartz’s firstfilm would be a youthful one-big-night adven-ture.

It’s much less debauched than the recent“Project X,” but the film’s niceness might beits undoing — the storytelling lacks sharpnessand focus, despite a screenplay credited toMax Werner, a writer on “The Colbert Re-port.”

Set in Cleveland, the story follows highschooler Wren (Victoria Justice) as she nerv-ously plans for college while still grapplingwith the emotional aftermath of her father’sdeath. Her mother (Chelsea Handler) saddles

Wren with looking after her oddball youngerbrother Albert (Jackson Nicoll) on Halloweennight.

This puts a crimp in the plan her friendApril (Jane Levy) had for them to go to an ex-clusive cool-kids party. When Albert goesmissing while trick-or-treating, their girls’night out takes a left turn.

“Fun Size” is at its least convincing whenit tries for real emotions. In many ways thetrue heart of the film is the character of theyoung and almost entirely silent Albert, whoseoff-kilter sweetness captures the tone the restof the film seems to be aiming for.

Schwartz, along with cinematographerYaron Orbach, works hard not to shoot thefilm in the flat, TV-influenced way that mightbest be described as Contemporary StudioCompetence, yet the camera often moves inways that feel unmotivated and unnecessary.

Schwartz’s visual choices never coalesceinto anything that might resemble a style or vi-sion.

Still, “Fun Size” lives up to the candy cor-relation of its title. It’s pleasurable enough inthe moment, but the buzz fades quickly.

‘ Fun Size’ is an OK treat

Horoscope

MCT

4puz.com

MCT

best coaches in Edrick Flo-real, formerly of Stanford.Both men’s and women’ssoccer have become con-tenders, far from an after-thought as they were yearsago.

All of those stridesaren’t to be lost under thefact that the facilities ofthose programs have beenvastly improved, shiftingthem into discussions of be-ing among the nation’s best.

But what about football?It’s the SEC — the DonaldTrump of NCAA confer-ences. Outside of Kentucky,basketball is an afterthoughtin what is considered foot-ball country.

Yet the football teamdoesn’t reap the rewards ofbeing one of the highest

grossing programs in theNCAA.

As was approved by theBoard of Trustees in June,the 2012 athletics depart-ment’s budget planned for$29.6 million in footballrevenue and $27.6 million in2013.

Albeit declining, thatranks in the top quarter ofcollegiate budgets.

Vanderbilt’s making useof its funds to upgrade facil-ities, while fans in theAthens of the West arewatching their stadium dete-riorate like Parthenon.That’s not to mention thecirculating image of a re-cruiting room reminiscent ofwhat families reserve at arestaurant for a reunion.

When that previouslymentioned budget was re-leased, you said, “We’vetried to be smart about howwe’ve budgeted. Regardless

of where football is, I don’tthink we would ever — interms of revenue — not pre-pare well.”

If that’s the case, thenwhy spend $300,000 on aspectacle of lights for BigBlue Madness? While it’spennies on the dollar, a mere$50,000 of that could behelpful in electrifying Com-monwealth Stadium ongame day. Give the teamflashy uniforms. Create amemorable intro. I’m justgiving suggestions for wherethat money can be allotted.

The time to reward theuniversity’s breadwinner isnow. Years of unstablemediocrity are needlesslyoccurring.

Take your turn, step upto the podium and make themove.

Truthfully, Cody Porter, Kenutcky

Kernel sports editor

PORTERContinued from page 1

When 90,000 fans crowdinto Ben Hill Griffin Stadiumon the University of Floridacampus this Saturday towatch their beloved Gatorstake on the South CarolinaGamecocks, it will be morethan just a football game. Formany, it will be one of thehighlights of their year, a rol-licking, emotional experience,with Florida in the hunt for anational championship.

But increasingly, that ex-perience comes with a heftyand controversial price tag.

These days it takes morethan a ticket to get into thestadium. Florida and scores ofother football powerhousesrequire fans to make thou-sands of dollars in “dona-tions” to their athletic depart-ments before they even get aseason ticket. The level of do-nation determines where fanssit. The more they give, thebetter the view. A seat in theprized Bull Gator section atFlorida requires a $14,500contribution.

Don’t think there isn’t awaiting line. Demand forfootball tickets almost alwaysexceeds supply. In recentyears, a new fan hoping tobuy a season ticket to Floridagames had to write GatorBoosters Inc., Florida’s non-profit booster club, a checkfor $1,800. That was the en-try-level donation and doesnot include the cost of theticket, which is hundreds ofdollars more. To inch up thewaiting line, Florida officialsrecommend boosting contri-butions even higher.

The money adds up. Lastyear, Florida took in $17.5million from its ticket contri-bution scheme, records show.Including luxury suites andother premium seats, the fig-ure swells to nearly $35 mil-lion, equal to about one-thirdof the entire athletic budget.And that’s only one school.

Nearly every major foot-

ball program — from SouthCarolina to Texas to the Uni-versity of Southern California— now requires its fans tomake an annual “contribu-tion” to get a season ticket. Inthe mid-1980s, a congression-al panel estimated ticketschemes raised $100 millionannually. Today, that figure iscloser to $500 million, inter-views and records suggest.

Nearly all of the money isuntaxed, part of a long, con-troversial history of tax breaksCongress has awarded to big-time college football even asthe sport becomes more andmore commercialized. Criticslike John D. Colombo, a lawprofessor and tax expert at theUniversity of Illinois, say thetax breaks defy the laws ofcharity and highlight howCongress has carved up thetax code benefiting scores ofspecial interests.

“The easy and direct an-swer is that it’s not charity,”Colombo said.“If you receivea quid proquo, that is,something tan-gible, it’s con-sidered not tobe a donation.The IRS hasheld that posi-tion forever.And it hasbeen upheldby the court.But Congressdecided to act on its own andcall the payments charitablecontributions.”

Schools have differentnames for their mandatoryticket schemes, which mimic“personal seat licenses” usedby professional teams. Somecall them “premium seatingprograms.” Others call them“priority seating plans.” TheUniversity of California,Berkeley, calls its new plan an“endowment seating pro-gram.” Boosters who give$225,000 are able to guaran-tee themselves a seat at Calfootball games for the next 50

years.The purpose of the ticket

schemes is to generate morerevenue by taking advantageof the unprecedented demandfor seats. Cal’s new seatingplan has raised nearly $41million in cash so far, accord-ing to university financialstatements, with tens of mil-lions more expected. TheSoutheastern Conference,which includes Florida, annu-ally collects more than $100million in seat donations,records show. At LouisianaState University, a perennialfootball power, contributionshave more than doubled since2005 — to $22.2 million an-nually, according to a state au-dit.

All of this money is taxfree for the schools. Andthanks to Congress, fans getto deduct 80 percent of theirmandatory payments, just asif they were writing a checkto the Salvation Army or the

local foodbank.

In the1980s, theI n t e r n a lR e v e n u eS e r v i c emoved totax footballticket con-tributions intwo rulings.The agencysaid the

mandatorypayments weren’t charitablegifts to the universities; in-stead, they represented thecost of securing a highly cov-eted season ticket. Therefore,the onus should be on thedonors to prove otherwise,agency officials argued, justas with any other charitabledonation involving a quid proquo.

Athletic directors turnedto Congress for help. Andlawmakers in Louisiana andTexas obliged, inserting lan-guage into legislation exempt-ing the University of Texas

Football gets tax breaks;fans ‘contribute’ for tickets

By Gilbert M. Gaul

MCT

remaining on a 3-pointerfrom Epps to send the gameinto overtime.

In overtime, Arizonamade no baskets, scoring allof its points on free throws.When the final buzzer sound-

ed, UK had fallen to Arizona84-79, ending the hopes of arepeat, a task that hadn’t beendone in the Bluegrass sincethe Rupp era.

The end of the season sawmany changes, with two play-ers being drafted to the NBA:Ron Mercer with the sixthpick to the Boston Celtics andDerek Anderson with the 13thpick to the Cleveland Cava-liers. However, the most sur-

prising change that off-seasonfor Kentucky fans was the lossof head coach Rick Pitino.

Pitino left in 1997 tomove on to the NBA to coachthe Celtics, where he foundlittle success compared withhis time at Kentucky. This setthe stage for former UK assis-tant coach Tubby Smith to re-turn to Lexington and lead theCats to their seventh champi-onship the following year.

BASKETBALLContinued from page 1

The easy anddirect answer is thatit’s not charity.”

JOHN D. COLOMBOLaw professor and tax expert

at the University of Illinois“

See FOOTBALL on page 4

The Kentucky Kernel is not responsible for information given to fraudulent parties. We encourage you not to participate in anything for which you have to pay an up-front fee or give out credit card or other personal information, and to report the company to us immediately.

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kernelclassifieds

monday 10.29.12 | page 3

Go Green. Recycle this Kernel.

gary hermann | opinions editor | ghermann@kykernel.comkernelopinions

Claritin or Zyrtec? Tylenol or Advil? Carmex or Chap-Stick? When you’ve got a drippy nose, monster headache oreven simply chapped lips, chances are you head to your local

pharmacy in search of relief. Once there,however, navigating the endless over-the-counter (OTC) options on store shelves canprove seemingly impossible.

When encountered with the myriad oftreatment methods, someone can easily be-come overwhelmed, throw up his or herhands in frustration and grab the cheapestitem. While this selection method appearsharmless, people forget to realize that OTCmedications can carry the same dangers as-sociated with prescription products such asliver toxicity, gastrointestinal upset and even,in rare instances, death. When faced with thedaunting task of choosing a self-treatment

option, however, patients must realize that they are not aloneas their pharmacist is poised to answer all questions regardingpotential options. Utilizing the readily accessible knowledgeof a pharmacist not only ensures optimal treatment of yourcondition, but it can also save you money and reduce side ef-fects related to an OTC product.

According to recent surveys, there are approximately1,000 active ingredients used in the more than 100,000 OTCitems available for purchase. While many of these medica-

tions can be safely utilized to treat minor aliments, other com-monplace items such as Tylenol (acetaminophen), Excedrin(acetaminophen, aspirin, caffeine) and NyQuil® (aceta-minophen, dextromethorphan, doxylamine) can cause signifi-cant harm if used inappropriately.

The risk of developing what pharmacists call “adverse re-actions,” is exponentially increased when products are takentogether or for prolonged periods of time — something thatthe “normal” college student can forget or ignore as they un-dergo the daily stresses of studying for class or cramming foran upcoming exam.

To put this risk into perspective, envision a student strug-gling during dead week as five huge exams loom only daysaway. While diligently studying one night, he decides to self-treat a developing headache with three Excedrin and twoTylenol. After his intense study session, he feels slightlybuzzed and decides to down some NyQuil to sleep a fewhours before waking up to repeat the same exhausting routine.Assuming our imaginary student consumes the same amountof medication nightly, by the end of a five-day week, hewould have ingested approximately 15 Excedrin, 14 Tylenoland 180mL of NyQuil — totally harmless, right? Some quickmath reveals that his OTC medication contains the caffeine-equivalent of seven Starbucks Grande Vanilla Lattes, 23grams of Tylenol, four grams of aspirin and enough alcohol toconstitute three shots of 40-proof liquor. Just the sheer amountof acetaminophen consumed would predispose him to liver

failure, but when combined with the blood-thinning effects ofaspirin and cardio-stimulating effects of caffeine, this type ofmedication regimen could easily result in a heart attack,stroke or even death.

With scenarios like the one depicted above occurringmore commonly, pharmacists can prove essential to the pre-vention of similar events when questioned about OTC med-ication prior to use. At the UK College of Pharmacy, studentsundergo four years of specialized education that focuses onhow both prescription and non-prescription medications inter-act when placed inside the human body.

Upon graduation, the new Doctors of Pharmacy canquickly recognize potentially harmful medication combina-tions, intervene by counseling patients and suggest alternativeor more effective treatment plans. As an added bonus, theknowledge pharmacists possess is dispensed free of chargeand without a required appointment, as anyone can casuallyapproach the closest pharmacy and ask to speak to one ofthese trained professionals.

Make your life easier the next time you step into a phar-macy seeking relief from a headache or sleeplessness — askthe pharmacist if you have a question because we can alwayshelp you choose between this or that.

Know your medicine. Know your pharmacist.Wade Barton is a third-year pharmacy student and Presi-

dent of the National Community Pharmacists Association, UKChapter. Email opinions@kykernel.com.

This or that? The pharmacist knows what you need

WADEBARTON

Guestcolumnist

Like many of my high school class-mates, I viewed foreign language courses asa requirement. Though I come from an im-

migrant family and livedin a county with a grow-ing Latino population, Iwas remarkably provin-cial; it never occurred tome to leave California.

Spanish classes werejust another item on mycollege-bound to-do list,and I breathed a sigh ofrelief when I wasn’t as-signed to our highschool’s one “tough”Spanish teacher. It didn’tbecome apparent to mefor years that the students

who had had Señor Green learned to speakSpanish, while I merely had Spanish class.After four years of filling out workbook ex-ercises, I arrived at college and promptlyflunked the Spanish proficiency exam.

In my sophomore year, I was once againfaced with the foreign-language require-ment. I chose Chinese in part because I setout to learn something hard, but in the end

Chinese chose me for reasons that turnedout to be my good fortune. When I startedin 1997, my university had just hired ayoung and energetic superstar calledWilliam Zhou, who proceeded to revampthe Chinese 1 program.

That year we Chinese 1 students were amotley crew, one of the few groups of studentscrazy enough to take 10 hours a week of for-eign language. In the dining hall by 8 in themorning, we muttered after Julian Wheatley’sOxbridge accent in our Walkmans and prac-ticed dialogues in which people still addressedeach other as “Comrade,” men made importantfamily decisions like whether to buy a sweateror a radio, and Westerners ate with forks whilethe Burmese ate with their hands. (Meanwhile,the students of Japanese discussed their hip-popotamus family.)

I persisted despite the sad faces that ap-peared daily on my dictations, and did so inpart because Teacher Zhou did, dragging meinto the office when I failed to get the past par-ticiple “le.” Fifteen years later Teacher Zhouhas cultivated a generation of China hands;there is at least a shelf full of books whose au-thors began their careers by reciting the lessonof the weatherman on the mountain.

The second happy circumstance was thatin 1996 a new university fellowship beganfunding undergraduate language study inAsia, and the endowment’s success in thoseyears sent me to Beijing in the summer of1999. This was my first true encounter witha foreign place, and my first realization thatlearning a foreign language is more than arequirement. In the years that followed, Chi-nese opened up new worlds and times tome, it made me think differently, and itmade me challenge (and reaffirm) many ofthe things I believe in.

To share a joke in a foreign language,to share the grief of a poet of a bygone cen-tury, to translate over the phone for an AIDSactivist — these are moments that wouldhave been closed to me had I not been solucky to be pushed beyond the two-year for-eign language requirement. The first yearsof learning a foreign language are exercisesin frustration, as you struggle with newgrammar and as the simplicity of your sen-tences falls far short of what you wish youcould express. But the delayed payoff canbe enormous; in learning a foreign languageand traveling abroad you gain a windowinto the humanity of another place. In re-

turning home you open a new one on yourown.

Today it has become trendy to studyChinese, and at my alma mater it is said thatgraduates go to Wall Street, to med schoolor to China. It is thought that China is thewave of the future, and Teacher Zhou minis-ters to a new generation that seeks its for-tune in a place that is now recognized as arising superpower. Though I’ve been goingto China for over a decade and I am still astudent of Chinese, it has brought me nei-ther fame nor fortune. Instead, it has givenme a vocation, a subject that continues tofascinate me and friends all over the world.

Your study of foreign language may notgive you the first; not everybody wants tobe a professor (and with good reason). Butif you look past the idea of foreign languageas a requirement and tough out those intro-ductory courses, the second two are yoursfor the taking.

These “credits” are immeasurable.Denise Y. Ho is assistant professor of

history in the College of Arts and Sciences.This is the third column in an occasional se-ries on being an undergraduate. Email opinions@kykernel.com.

A professor on learning foreign languages

DENISEHO

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PAGE 4 | Monday, October 29, 2012

and LSU. Other footballschools lobbied that theyshould be exempt as well, andin 1988 Congress agreed,crafting language allowingfans to deduct 80 percent ofthe cost of buying season tick-ets, including mandatory dona-tions, thus ensuring that theticket schemes would not onlysurvive but thrive.

In the two-plus decadessince Congress intervened,college football has been trans-formed into a cash cow atmany large athletic powers,accounting for half or more ofall revenues. That money helpsto subsidize less lucrativesports, athletico f f i c i a l sstress. But lit-tle of themoney goesto support thea c a d e m i cmission. In-stead, it getsplowed backinto the ath-letic depart-ments to payfor scholar-ships, ever-more luxuri-ous training fa-cilities and stadiums, escalat-ing coaches salaries, as well asrising debt payments.

California’s seat plan,which includes nearly 3,000 ofthe best seats in the house, wasdesigned to pay for $350 mil-lion in renovations at 60,000-seat Memorial Stadium. Theschool touts the VIP seats asproviding “unprecedented ben-efits for decades to come.” For$40,000 to $225,000, fans cansecure seats with catered food,premium beverages, flat-screen TVs and priority park-ing, among other amenities.

Cal officials call the pay-ments a “pledge,” as opposedto a personal seat license. “Adonor signs a pledge that willgive them (sic) rights to theirseats for 40 years,” universityspokesman Dan Mogulof saidin an email. “They also havethe ability to cancel the pledgeat any time.”

There is another differencebetween the plans: “Signifi-cant tax deductions may be

available” for Cal donors, abrochure notes.

The rush to cash in on col-lege football is not new. Butwith spending on athletics atepochal levels, the search forfunds is becoming ever-morecreative, fueling concerns thatthe tax breaks and ticketschemes are helping to fuel anunprecedented increase in ath-letic spending at the expenseof education.

“The mission of the uni-versity is being subverted bythe focus on athletics,” con-tends Nathan Tublitz, a biolo-gy professor at the Universityof Oregon and a member of anational organization hopingto reform college sports. Henotes that top-ranked studentsin Oregon’s Honors College

receive schol-arships “ofabout $3,000.But a fullscholarshipfor a footballplayer includ-ing tuition,room andboard, books,food, and allof the rest, isp r o b a b l yw o r t h$40,000 or$50,000. That

shows you thedisconnect right there,” saidTublitz.

Spending on athletes atOregon has soared 244 percentin the last decade, according tothe university’s website.

“It’s a combination of wehave more student-athletes andthe costs of tuition keeps goingup,” said Garrett Klassy, an as-sistant athletic director incharge of the Duck AthleticFund, which includes the foot-ball ticket program. Oregon,like other football powers (theDucks currently are rankedsecond in the nation), sets con-tribution levels according tothe view. Club and box seatsrequire donations of $1,200 to$1,800 per seat. Less attractiveseats go for $100 to $800. Alltold, the school raised about$18 million from donationslast year, Klassy said.

At No. 1 ranked Alabama,demand for season tickets is sogreat that there is a waiting listof 26,000 fans, according toChris Besanceney, who over-

sees the TIDE PRIDE donorprogram. Only about 40 newfans managed to get ticketsthis season. Contribution lev-els run up to $2,000 per seatinside 101,000-seat Bryant-Denny Stadium. Overall, con-tributions have doubled in thelast decade, to more than $25million, records show.

Turnover is also rare atGeorgia’s 90,000-seat SanfordStadium. That causes “theminimum donation level to gothrough the roof,” said JayLowe, head of the donor pro-gram. “In 2008, for a newfootball donor, our cutoff was$10,651 (for a season ticket).Basically, it’s supply and de-mand.” Georgia collects about$22 million annually in dona-tions.

At the University of Mis-sissippi, only 20 percent of the60,580 seats in Vaught-Hem-mingway Stadium include amandatory donation, accordingto Assistant Athletic DirectorDan O’Dowd. Nevertheless,contributions are growing —$11 million in 2011. Some pre-mium seats now require a sep-arate $3,000-per-seat paymentto help pay for new facilities— as well as a regular seat do-nation of $1,100 per seat.

For years, Penn State hadone of the lowest ticket dona-tion requirements — $100 aseat. But last year athletic de-partment officials increasedcontributions for their bestseats, up to $2,000 a seat.They also allowed longtimefans to transfer their tickets tofamily members and friends— but at a hefty cost. Fans hadto make a mandatory donationof up to $2,000 for each ticketthey transferred.

Associate Athletic DirectorGreg Myford said Penn Stateopted to include the transferfee after realizing the athleticdepartment needed more rev-enue to cover growing costs.Even with an athletic budgetof $116 million annually, PennState was at risk of falling be-hind.

“It was an opportunity forus to develop a new revenuesource,” Myford said. Thetransfer fees raised about $3.8million, with overall ticketcontributions increasing to $17million.

Fans, of course, got to takea charitable deduction.

FOOTBALLContinued from page 2

The missionof the university isbeing subverted bythe focus on athletics.”

NATHAN TUBLITZbiology professor at

the University of Oregon

“