Students will soon have the opportunity to cheer on the Chargers at the Crisler Center.
On Saturday, Nov. 15, the Hillsdale College men’s basketball team will have the opportunity to play the University of Michigan in a regular season game. To take advantage of this opportunity, the Student Activities Board brought a request to Student Federation to ask for funding to bring students to the game in buses.
“I think it’s a great opportunity,” SAB President senior Mallory Sachen said. “I mean, it’s really cool because we’re offering a cheaper price if they ride the bus just because we want to fill the buses just because it was this great opportunity that we got. We were able to purchase them with the help of Student Fed, and it’s a great atmosphere too being able to ride the bus up with all your friends and your classmates and attend the game.”
SAB made the decision to buy tickets after hearing from students who wanted to take advantage of the opportunity.
“A lot of students were emailing us, and saying ‘Hey, is SAB going to purchase some tickets or bring a group up there?’” Sachen said. “So we started looking into it and at first we weren’t sure if we were going to be able to do it, because the tickets were harder to get, but we were able to purchase a block of them and we thought that students would want a way to get up there too, and so we decided to pull the buses together and go that route.”
SAB is encouraging students to sign up for the event.
“I just encourage people to sign up because it will be a lot of fun,” Sachen said. “Opportunities like this only come once in a while. Reserve your ticket as soon as you can.”
There was much discussion in Student Fed on whether or not this was a valid opportunity on which to spend money.
“I don’t see the need for Student Fed to fund a lot of things that are personal to groups,” Student Fed Independent Representative junior Sam Holdeman said. “I was a little hesitant on the busing issue, but then I did ultimately vote for it. Honestly, for transportation and stuff, that is something that Student Fed has done before. Especially with Student Activities Board, they’re doing stuff that helps get the student body involved. It supports an athletic team, so it probably is worthwhile. I do think that we could sometimes be a little more accountable on how our money is spent, especially on funding out to groups like SAB.”
However, others said that Student Fed exists to give money to student groups.
“Student Fed exists to allocate student fees to students who are in need of money to do whatever it is they are trying to do,” Independent Student Fed Representative junior Jacob Thackston said. “We are helping students with the buses, for a perfect example. We are sending 100 students up to a regular season game with a top, like, twenty-five basketball team. This is a real game for them, and we get to go up there for 10 bucks. There are student fees going back to the students for things the students can appreciate and enjoy. That’s what we do.”
Students can either buy a $10 ticket, with the stipulation that they ride the bus down to the game, by emailing senior Megan O’Dean at modean@hillsdale.edu or by stopping by the SAB office. SAB said if you do not want to take the bus, you can still purchase a discounted ticket for $20 at mgoblue.com.
