Perkins: Points apply to faculty

By Chuck Woodling     Sep 6, 2003

Faculty and staff at Kansas University won’t be immune from a proposed priority points seating system in Allen Fieldhouse.

Lew Perkins, KU’s new athletic director, made that clear during the KU Athletic Corporation’s first scheduled meeting of the school year Friday afternoon.

When John Ferraro, a professor of speech and hearing at the KU Med Center, mentioned faculty and staff hadn’t had raises in three years and faculty and staff “should be a sacred group” when it came to seating for men’s basketball games, Perkins was quick to respond.

“You’re asking the athletic director to pick up for all the ills of the university,” he said. “I think if I were faculty I’d be battling (for raises) instead of fieldhouse seats.”

Perkins said he wasn’t targeting the faculty; he was simply trying to do what was best for the 500-plus student-athletes on scholarship.

“Do you know some of our kids have to study in the hallway?” Perkins said, referring to the cramped student-support center in Parrott Complex. “If I was a professor, I’d be concerned where the students study. I’d be more concerned about that than seats.”

When Don Steeples, a vice provost, said many faculty members had closet-like offices, Perkins said: “I regret that. But that’s not my job.”

When Bill Tuttle, a professor of history, asked what the KUAC board’s role would be in determining a points system, Perkins stressed he would listen to everyone — “even people who aren’t in favor of it.”

Tuttle also asked if faculty would receive points just for being faculty members.

“I don’t want to offend anybody,” Perkins said, “but nobody has said to me, ‘What are the alternatives?’ This board is here to help athletes, so give me some alternatives.”

Two years ago, when then-AD Bob Frederick brought up the idea of priority seating for men’s basketball, faculty-staff and students were exempted. That plan was never implemented, however, and was later dropped while Al Bohl was in charge of the athletic department.

Now faculty-staff will be included.

“We have people at midcourt who donate nothing,” Perkins said. “Some don’t even pay for their tickets, and they’re faculty members.”

Perkins was apparently referring to deans and other high-ranking faculty and staff members. Perkins mentioned how he had implemented a similar plan while he was AD at Connecticut, and that prompted board member Gale Sayers, a former KU football All-American and NFL standout, to ask if the UConn faculty had complained to him.

“Everybody complained,” Perkins said, eliciting laughter. “But the great thing is that in five years from now it’ll be accepted as just part of doing business.”

Since taking over July 7, Perkins has made his agenda clear.

“We’re going to be making changes because it’s necessary,” he told the board members. “It’s time we do some things differently. We’re probably going to make mistakes, but hopefully we can minimize those.”

Job One, Perkins told them, was the athlete.

“Enhancing a student-athlete’s experience. That’s the most important thing we have,” he said. “Then we have to be sensitive to everybody else.”

Again, Perkins emphasized the priority points system for men’s basketball seating was in the “very, very preliminary stages,” and that no one would lose their tickets.

“We’re not throwing anybody out,” he said. “People are going to have to make choices. It will be their choice where they sit, not ours.”

  • KU v. ‘Nova: No official announcement has yet been made, but look for Kansas to play Villanova in the first game of a home-and-home men’s basketball series Jan. 2 at Allen Fieldhouse. ESPN, which will televise the game, announced the game Friday on its Web site.
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