The ongoing arm-wrestling match
between those in opposition and support of the Colorado State University on-campus
football stadium proposal is being deliberated in an attempt to avoid one side
being strong-armed by the other.
The Center for Public Deliberation (CPD)
held it’s ninth forum, in a series of 10, Wednesday afternoon at 4:15 at the
Drake Centere. The last meeting was held later that evening to conclude the
public input process.
“My
job, my passion, is to help the community and assist in our work as an
impartial resource,” said CPD founder and director, CSU communication studies
professor Martin Carcasson, “we are here to hear your voice no matter what it
is and help make a decision.”
Carcasson started CPD seven years
ago based on his background in argumentation, because he wanted to provide the
community of Northern Colorado with clear understanding of issues and summarize
views of stakeholders. He also trains students at CSU as part of a class in
which they receive credit for to act as deliberators in forums such as the
school’s stadium decision making process.
To assist the university and
President Tony Frank in his decision making process regarding the divergent
on-campus stadium proposal the Stadium Advisory Committee (SAC) has convened to
look in-depth at potential issues and make a recommendation.
The
attendees of the forum shuffle in with their view on their minds and pick up
their names tags along with table numbers. With the tables purposefully assigned based on each
individual’s opinions based on their input from the R.S.V.P. to the forum to allow
for conversation that both view points are present.
Per
the agenda established by CPD a survey of each individual’s demographic and
sense of values and opinion pertaining to the stadium proposal begins the
penultimate forum. Participants
then commence in activities with trained student facilitators to guide the
discussion of the variety of opinions about the project.
Fort
Collins resident and wife of a CSU professor, Linda Mahan says she is
interested in the forums because she is a trained volunteer for CPD and is
curious to see how they function.
“
I think there is a lot of pressure for a March 29th deadline date to
decide, it seems hurried and if a new academic building were to be built it
seems the process would take longer, “ said Mahan.
Other
community members were not as indifferent in the matter. Susan Keist expressed her concern of
the potential proximity of the stadium to the house she recently moved
into. Keist said until this summer
she lived on Drake and part of her reason for moving was to get away from the
football stadium along with the traffic and everything that comes with it.
“I
just hope CSU really does take the people of this city and community seriously
or something is wrong, I’m concerned because I am going to be effected,” said
Keist.
She
highlighted her connection to the project as not just a community member but
also as the wife of a 65-year-old nontraditional student getting his masters at
CSU.
“I
think Tony Frank should try living where I live now and then decide where he
really wants the stadium,” said Keist “the first meeting I went to about all
this was just one big hoopla and seemed as though the decision was already
made, it was so promotional it was frustrating.”
Among
the 48 participants at the forum the ratio of those who opposed the project
outweighed those in favor 15 to 5 in the initial survey. In a list of 10 key values to be
considered for the proposal the result for what was regarded as most important
among those present was, “a legitimate decision-making process, including
significant public engagement,” and the participants selected “strong CSU
athletics program” as least important.
Sandy
Lemberg, a community member, said he was very engaged with the university. He shared his disapproval of the
blatant favor of sports in the situation over academics as an attempt to put
CSU on the map nationally.
“Outrageous
is how I describe this, so extreme for a culture where everything seems to be
disposable, they build something just to tear it down 30 years later, it’s crap
and really offensive to me personally,” said Lemberg.
Community
member, Bill Slye who lived within one mile of campus brought up the connection
of athletics, specifically football, to a college experience. He attended Duke and Wisconsin both
with a large sense of pride in athletics.
“Whether
or you like it or not, sports are a big of college life and it is going to
dictate aspects of decisions made my university officials,” said Slye,
“obviously non-sports fans will be opposed to this (stadium proposal) I just
wish when the information was let out they were prepared with more facts, it
seems like the decision is already made.”
Community
members outweighed students as the ninth forum but the difference in demographic
did not reflect the opinions of the individuals. CSU human development and
family studies major Taylor Grillo expressed a great deal of excitement about
the project, talking about her avid love for sports and desire to be a part of
an athletically successful school.
“Being in FoCo
and knowing we have a D1 athletic program we should be able to make some
sacrifices in this town to support that program,” said Grillo. “We will never
have the program as we want to have as a school if we don’t follow through with
this program because we won’t get the recruits we want and need without it.”
She also highlighted the potential for increased safety regarding
tailgating as it affects students and those around them.
Nick
Fiore, CSU Liberal Arts major said he was a sports fan, and plays for the club
lacrosse team but still did not see the need for a new stadium.
“
I’m against the new stadium because it goes against everything CSU stands for,
how green is it really to build a new stadium, that is virtually irreversible,”
said Fiore.
He suggested that many students like him came here for the
university’s concern with reducing its carbon footprint.
“I
don’t think that a new stadium can or will make a better football team,” said
Fiore.
By: Brittany Lancaster
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