Taking a cue from George Orwell’s “Animal Farm,” at the University of Utah, all student athletes are created equal, but some student athletes are more equal than others.
The University of Utah’s student fan club, the Mighty Utah Student Section (MUSS), ostensibly supports all of the athletic teams on campus. Unfortunately, it does so in inequitable ways, as exemplified by its process to assign seats for home football games.
Seats in the MUSS for home football games are assigned based upon priority number. The MUSS appropriately supports its student athletes by awarding early MUSS football registration based upon attendance at non-football home sporting events the prior year. Rewarding attendance is a fitting way to assign the most desirable MUSS football seats, but these incentives should support all student athletes. Discriminatorily, the MUSS offers priority seating incentives for attending only one other athletic event — men’s basketball games. No priority is given for attending women’s basketball games, or any other sport, just men’s basketball.
All student athletes deserve our collective support, no matter their gender or sport. The professed concern to protect and preserve women’s sports as part of the discussion regarding transgender students’ participation in sports rings hollow when Utah continues to treat our female athletes as less deserving of support than their male counterparts. Our state-supported universities can not be allowed to treat some student-athletes as more equal than others. Utes, we can do better.
Kristen Schulz, Park City