Students can change ticket pickup policy
This column represents the views of the Old Gold and Black Editorial Board.

Much has been made of the numerous changes surrounding the men’s basketball team this year, and with good cause. The construction and completion of the Kenneth D. Miller Center, a new student seating arrangement at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, the decision to do away with ticket pickups for fall semester games, the return of Midnight Madness to campus and even the team’s new uniforms are all indicative of a new era of Demon Deacon basketball.

Still one piece of the puzzle is missing from a complete transformation of student’s involvement in the basketball team.

When students went to pick up their mail this week, they most likely received a flyer informing them that the ticket pickup for spring semester basketball games once again would be taking place at Spry Stadium. However, many students would rather see the pickup moved to the more central location of the Magnolia Quad.

The Mag Quad would be a much more ideal place to have students camping out for hours on end to pick up basketball tickets.

This arrangement would also be marginally safer for students because they wouldn’t have to walk all the way across campus to Spry.

There have been reservations about moving the ticket pickup to the Mag Quad because of problems in past years with unruly students that occurred when the ticket pickup was at the Benson University Center.

However, this is an easy problem to solve – all the university has to do is set ground rules for the ticket pickup, and make it clear that no underage drinking or littering will be tolerated, and that Student Government representatives will reserve the right to remove students from the line if their behavior gets out of control.

Other universities such as Duke University have strict rules concerning ticket pickup, and students abide by them because they do not want to lose the privilege of attending the basketball game.

Furthermore, the Mag Quad is more often patrolled by University Police than is Spry.
The university could employ the assistance of an additional security guard on the nights of ticket pickups, and maybe even introduce random checkpoints to make sure underage students obey the ground rules.

Men’s basketball Head Coach Skip Prosser has already shown an extraordinary amount of interest in the student body and what their hopes and expectations for their involvement in the basketball program are.

Surely Prosser would be receptive to a student initiative to change the location of the ticket pickup, and he would hopefully encourage the administration to listen to the students’ ideas.

The most beneficial aspect of the move would simply be that the ticket pickup process would be more visible, yielding a potential increase in campus support for the Deacons.

Students who weren’t interested in camping out would inevitably see those who were, and perhaps some of the enthusiasm about the basketball program would rub off.

Having ticket pickup tucked away in the back corner of campus shrouds the black and gold spirit of diehard Atlantic Coast Conference fans.

Who can begrudge a little free advertising for one of the school’s most successful teams by bringing ticket pickup to a more central location of campus? This university has spent $10.8 million on a new athletic facility; why not move the ticket pickup for free?
The campout for ticket pickup at nearby schools such as Duke is already legendary. The mystique of “Krzyzewskiville” probably does as much to get students interested in the Duke basketball progam as the success of its teams.

Many students chose to come to this university at least in part because of its affiliation with the ACC. Only good things could happen if more students were allowed to be involved with the program.

More visible student support could also provide assistance for the recruiting process. Why would a heavily recruited high school senior want to attend and play for a university that he did not feel had loyal fan support?

Highly visible shows of student involvement with the program are like the Miller Center in that they are a prominent show of encouragement on behalf of the university and university community for the basketball program, and a valuable asset to the recruiting process.

Like Prosser has said repeatedly, the basketball team belongs to the students, and they should be able to make the decision about where ticket pickup will be held.

But the move won’t come unless students take the first step.

Basketball season is just days away, and the spring semester is rapidly approaching.

Ticket pickups on the Mag Quad are not out of reach.

Without this one important facet, the men’s basketball team’s amazing reincarnation this year might feel incomplete. It is up to students and all the Demon Deacon fans to make it happen.