Student Sports Committee

Dear athletes,

This editorial is to explain the importance of a student sports committee at AUB. Non athletes who read this editorial may also learn a bit about the importance of such a committee. A student sports committee currently does not exist, but the need for such a committee is urgent.

Coaches or those responsible for the Athletics Department usually solve the many problems that athletes face. Yet, many other problems are not solved within the Sports Department and the athletes have no organization to represent them and defend their interests. Students in each department have their own society; students in every faculty have their own Student Representative Committee (SRC. Athletes, who share a common interest: sports come from different departments and faculties. Nonetheless, they have no representatives.

Some might wonder whether or not it is the duty of the University Student Faculty Committee (USFC) to represent these athletes. But as a matter of fact, the USFC is more interested in matters that affect the general population of AUB; besides the USFC usually deals with established student organizations such as clubs and SRCs.

Consequently, the first raison-d'être for the foundation of a student sports committee is the following: To pursue the needs of athletes that cannot be answered within the capacity of the Athletics Department. Raising extra funds for the sports budget is one example.

Last year, AUB hosted two major sports tournaments, the Independence Tournament and the International Tournament. These two events required much time and effort in order to guarantee their success. Have we had a student sports committee, it would have been much easier to recruit volunteers who could have helped out the Athletics Department in sponsoring such events.

A Student Work Scholarship fund is annually allocated in the annual budget of the Athletics Department. The proposed student sports committee could help in determining the needy athletes and could recommend them to the Athletics Department so that these needy athletes could work and get paid. Unions and syndicates are among the pillars of democracy. If athletes were organized into a representative committee, they could be of great assistance to the Athletics Department, to the Administration, to the USFC, and to themselves. In order to avoid recurring problems and the athletes' anger as well as their frustration, we hope that this editorial will be considered as "a call to arms" and as the first step to actually create the highly recommended and badly needed student sports committee.