There is no doubt CSUN is a university that lacks something other institutions such as UCLA and USC have. Yes, we do not have a football team or a prestigious sports program, but those are not it. It is such a problem that the University Student Union and Associated Students have gone to great lengths to do something about it. This university just does not have any school spirit and it will not anytime soon.
A proposal by the USU to build a recreation center has come to light recently. The center would include basketball and volleyball courts, rock climbing wall, martial arts, spinning, dance and boxing studio and much more. The USU is looking to “enhance the sense of community” and school spirit, as well. Sounds like a great idea that would definitely attract some students, as a focus group found that 48 percent of students surveyed said the center would make CSUN a more attractive institution to students.
The proposed center sounds great, except for the whole fee increase, the millions of dollars it would cost to construct it, and the little space there is to even have such a place.
This recreation center is just another attempt to get students involved and make the institution less of a “commuter” school. It, like every other plan, will fail in the long run.
There is nothing that brings people together and increases school spirit like sports. Centers, programs and events will never bring school spirit. The USU and A.S. have wasted time and money in attempting to promote the CSUN pride we lack.
We have 18 sports programs in this university, 10 belonging to women. Though the university does have a wide variety of sports programs, we do not have prestigious or winning programs. The two main sports in college are football and basketball. We can cross football off the list, but we have basketball. The men’s basketball team finished the season 14-17 and has not made it to the NCAA tournament since 2001, the same year they last won 20 games in a season. The women’s basketball team had high hopes this season, but was eliminated in the first round of the Big West Conference Tournament, as were the men.
Moving on to baseball. After a promising start, they are currently on an eight-game losing streak.
The only consistently successful program we have is soccer, but, unfortunately, no one cares about that sport.
All this money going toward events, a recreation center and any other attempt to create school spirit should go toward sports.
Go to other universities and you will meet a number of students with a sense of pride in sports. A number of UCLA students will get together and tailgate before a football or basketball game. The same goes with USC and practically every other school with a football team.
A successful program will draw more students to games, which also means more money. The university should be more committed to sports because it could help financially and it may even create more interest for students to attend CSUN.
We don’t have school spirit because we do not have a prestigious sports program. Not having a football team does not help, but our basketball program must improve. This past season, the team showed flashes of good basketball, but they failed to do that every night. Give us something to cheer about, and then we will fill up the Matadome.
