Thursday Games

[AppDawg]

First, I admit to overreacting a bit.

Living in Raleigh with a new job, I will be lucky to make it to Boone before 3 - heck kickoff at that. So like others have stated here the lots not being open before 3 does not impact me much at all.

Second, in no way am I condining going down a slippery slope of those on the "hill". Academics are 1st and foremost and I firmly believe we should continue to hold all of our students and student athletes to a high standard. Nothing was more embarrassing than the APR situation our MBB team recently faced. I simply do not think cancelling classes after 3pm would lead to athletes getting special treatment that would lead to violations. My guess is on both of those thursdays, football players potentially will already have excused absences. Why not the rest of the student body? Treat it like a "snow day" or a more recent phenomenon, 2 hour delay because its "too cold."

To better explain my thoughts, as we all are, I am passionate about Appalachian. Yes, as an alumn and donor and I want us to excel on the field, but more importantly I want the University as a whole to excel. I want to share our excitement, great story and all that Appalachian has to offer with all - regardless of winning or losing on the field. As a businessman, I see these two dates as a marketing goldmine. A goldmine we are not putting our best foot forward to take full advantage of.

To me, nothing visually illustrates this excitement more than a packed and rowdy crowd on a Thursday night. We insantly set ourselves apart, from other G5's by showing the passion we all have for our great institution. This drives not only future student interest in the University, it prompts others to visit our websites and ask questions which has the potential to bring donations in the door - i.e. The front porch.

So yes, I let my passion get the better of me in my initial posts and was a bit over-the-top, but I will not apologize for wanting all to see how great our University is when the light is shinging bright on us. Again, win or lose on the field.

Agree this is a rock and a hard place for the University and lots of varying interests to accommodate. We'll see how it plays out.

Hope this better lays out my point-of-view.

[3rd]

After thinking on the issue...I am here. If we lose money on renting the parking lot then it is a bad idea.(How many times have we been told the University doesn't have money) If not then I am indifferent on the issue. I know we will never see the number on what the agreement was and how much the $15 makes us after paying shuttles and renting the lot but it would be interesting to me to see those numbers.

[Appalachman]

When was this developed? It seems to be a year late, the sunbelt and Thursday nights were a known. It was only a matter of time until we hosted. Admin looks bad by not having this out with the schedule. I understand both sides and find the plan acceptable, knowing it will be a busy day. The interesting part will be the absolute freedom and lack of accountability of the faculty to the admin. I believe it is an institute of learning not athletics, although 8-10 years ago football led to demand and ultimately stronger students coming to App. The faculty can cancel their class if they want to while a few anti-athletics will probably plan an exam that day or early Friday morning. Many will want to avoid traffic or smaller attendance and cancel. If academics first the make sure classes happen. Saying there is class when there will not be class in many instances is the hill's problem. 2/20 meetings is better, but still weakens the class.

[EastHallApp]

I don't think the wording of the statement is a big deal at all. It's the decision itself. Not for the sake of symbolism about the role of athletics vs. academics - that's totally overblown IMO. I just think it creates a potentially chaotic traffic and parking situation that could have easily been avoided.

The problem is that professors put too much symbolic importance on canceling classes for a Thursday game. We've all taken college classes. I taught a couple as a TA. Canceling a couple half-days of classes is not some crippling handicap to the university's educational mission. Individual classes get canceled for any number of reasons. Professors get sick, stuck in traffic, have scheduling conflicts... you work around it. With months of notice, it would have been no problem to do so.

But some professors are just hypersensitive about any sign of "the tail wagging the dog." In fact some are already verging on anti-sports, if not outright so. So even though they could easily accommodate these major campus events with some minor tweaks to their teaching schedule, they make a stink because they already feel like football gets too much attention, too much money, too much power... Too much everything.

[T-Dog]

Charging $15 for parking at the old WHS is a scummy move and I bet that money goes to the town/county, who hates the school but doesn't waste a chance to profit off them. Note how the shuttle service from there by Appalcart is free, BTW.

There needs to be a happy medium regarding student parking. Students who are more than 5 miles away (out of Appalcart range) should be given passes. There aren't many of them, but this deal hurts them.

[BTK2000]

Yeah, Im not walking/ Biking to class that day from Howards creek Rd. I already know what will happen when I "contact the office of traffic and parking". They are going to tell me that I can park up at broyhill with the thousands of other students that need to park up there as well. The office of traffic and parking is always looking out for the needs of students .

edit: My parents lived in Chapel Hill when I was born (Im a heretic, I know) and my dad worked at the UNC Hospital during that time. He said that all the parking spaces normally reserved for the hospital employees were taken on both basketball and football gamedays and that most of those employees were displaced by the Rams Club. This isn't meant as a UNC is the devil statement but more of a other schools have similar if not more difficult problems to deal with when is comes to parking. I think enough people are going to complain that classes will be canceled after 3. I will say right now that if my car is towed parked in a spot that I payed for while I am attending classes I will be pretty angry. I would rather not have to make up work but honestly don't see this working out at all.

[BeauFoster]

Yeah, Im not walking/ Biking to class that day from Howards creek Rd.

Other than the 3-4 days I rode the Appalcart to campus, I walked to class every day I was in Boone. If you live too far out to walk, then you ride the bus. Figure it out. It's two days.

[DoubleA]

Thursday night college FB is a symptom of the problem with college sports today..... the tail is wagging the dog. When a university is forced to cancel classes and disrupt it's primary mission in order to accommodate a sporting event, something is wrong with this picture. So we signed up for it, and it is what it is. Admin needs to step up and put a limit on this - say one game a year. Two Thursday night games is two too many, IMO.

[JTApps1]

Yeah, Im not walking/ Biking to class that day from Howards creek Rd.

Other than the 3-4 days I rode the Appalcart to campus, I walked to class every day I was in Boone. If you live too far out to walk, then you ride the bus. Figure it out. It's two days.

I kmow plemt of students who drove to the mall or Walmart and rode the AppalCart in from there. Its free and easy to go that route these two days.

As for the poster that said the admin looks bad for waiting so late; two years ago I went to a Clemson game on Thursday night with a friend that is a Clemson alum. He said they didnt fimd out the parking details until the week of the game because their admin was trying to figure out what to do with classes that day. They ended up cancelling and their professor's were ticked. This is a school that has played on numerous Thursdays. I'd say we're being pretty proactive in comparison.

[Saint3333]

I am proponent for being a student first and athlete second, but as usual society has chosen to make a mountain of a mole hill, when the KISS system could have been applied.

Professors are smart people, give me two months to figure out how to get the same amount of material in two less classes I could manage.

Cancel classes 3 and after.

[fjblair]

What's with all the hand wringing drama? Unreal.

The sky is not falling, the day will be hectic which ups the excitement level, the game will be awesome and everybody will survive. Many schools do this shuffle and face the same exact issues and have done so for years without implosion. It may take a year or three to fine tune the process but ASU will manage just fine.

The end.

[TheMoody1]

This thread is funny.

[AppAlum1]

This thread is funny.

BEST POST EVER IN THE 1,000 YEAR HISTORY OF APP STATE FOOTBALL !!!

10,000 attaboys for Moody.

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

I am proponent for being a student first......

Cancel classes 3 and after.

Seems contradictory.

As many loans as I am taking out to get my daughter through Appalachian the classes better be held baring the occasional illness or professional meeting off campus of the instructor, or weather problems which we all understand for Boone. But money aside, I don't want athletics to ever displace academics, be it one or two classes or one or two minutes.

With that said, my daughter takes 8 am classes and is finished most days fairly early so this should not effect her this year. I hope she has time to get to KBS and I plan to be at the game myself.

[Saint3333]

I didn't say they'd receive less matlerial, our professors are skilled enough to make up that time "lost".

The smart ones will work this out conveniently.

[HeffnerIV]

I'm highly concerned that our student's trouble parking two late afternoons is going to hinder their careers and their education. This most certainly will stunt them for a decade+! I really hope they're prepared for this injustice. #parkingjustice #parkingpriveledge #itsnotfair #whamburger #frenchcries

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

I didn't say they'd receive less matlerial, our professors are skilled enough to make up that time "lost".

The smart ones will work this out conveniently.

How do you make up a lab? Most, maybe all of my science labs were after lunch and many were the two hour block of 3-5 if I remember correctly. Some later. Astronomy lab was 10 pm-12 midnight.

There is a physics education class this semester that meets 4-6 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. They do some labs and demo sorts of things from my understanding (among other things including guest speakers.) There are plenty of classes that can not or at least should not be "phoned-in." Anything less than some face to face interaction with other people and equipment is selling the subject short and there are many classes such as this.

[AppinVA]

Cancel Thursday afternoon classes before the Georgia Southern game. Then hold Thursday afternoon classes on Friday afternoon following the stAte game, canceling Friday afternoon classes. Done.

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

Cancel Thursday afternoon classes before the Georgia Southern game. Then hold Thursday afternoon classes on Friday afternoon following the stAte game, canceling Friday afternoon classes. Done.

There are some very important science classes that meet in the fall semester in the Friday 3-5 block. Getting this lab time or presentation time made up would be next to impossible. In some cases these classes involve nearly the entire faculty of the department. Finding a time when all the faculty can meet and also not conflict with a dozen or so student schedules-it ain't happening.

[Saint3333]

Sometimes in life there are curve balls, obstacles, and things just don't go your way. Often times successful people find a way to get the job done.

If I'm the professor we decide as a class what works for the group to get the job done and done correctly. This really isn't very hard.