OUR OPINION: The Campout is more than just a special ticket distribution night.
Student Government and the Athletics Department are working on ways to improve this year’s Campout.
While the changes to the online ticketing system are supposed to distribute tickets more fairly, the Campout is still an excellent student tradition. SG and Athletics should work to ensure the system distributes tickets to the most loyal fans, minimizes problems with Campout checkpoints and maintains Campout as a basketball season tradition students can look forward to.
Morgan Donnelly, Student Senate Campus Community Committee chair, said SG is looking to reward students for attending games, both at the Campout and in the stands.
Last year, Donnelly said, students complained about the weaknesses of the checkpoint system and the failure to reward seniors and loyal fans with good seats.
This system is not fair — students who attend more basketball games should get priority to receive tickets first and get better seats. Donnelly said SG is trying to find a system to track loyalty points, which reward students who attend more games and give students with more points priority in registering for Campout and lottery tickets.
SG is also looking to implement an online registration system to account for loyalty points and a card-swipe system to prevent students from not being present during checkpoints.
These are welcome changes and hopefully will lead to a fair ticketing system that gives better tickets to students who attend more games.
And while it may not have as much significance with the new loyalty point system, the Campout is a tradition, something the University sorely needs.
Dick Christy, associate athletics director, said SG is working with Athletics to use the improvements to the online ticket distribution system to create a system that can assign tickets based on loyalty to every game. Christy said he hopes this would reduce the need for having an event like the Campout for every basketball game, but students still should have the Campout anyway.
Donnelly said SG is also trying to establish Campout as something more than a glorified ticket distribution. She said student leaders are looking to start a food drive or similar philanthropic program at Campout, which would not effect students’ chances of getting a ticket.
The new ticketing distribution system may reduce loyal fans’ need to show their support in order to get a ticket, but Campout can give all students an opportunity to support the basketball team and establish a strong tradition for major basketball games.
