University of Virginia Library

Priorities

Dear Sir:

Is it true that University Hall
has the capacity for an
addition of several thousand
seats?

If this assumption is correct,
then, with the demand for
basketball tickets far
outstripping supply, why is
the facility not enlarged?
Perhaps I am myopic, and I
readily admit an inability to
grasp the subtleties of Athletic
Department economics;
nevertheless I see the plan to
renovate and enlarge Scott
Stadium with no corresponding
efforts to increase the seating
capacity of U-Hall as a classic
example of misplaced
priorities.

However, even if it is
physically impossible to
enlarge the number of seats, it
would seem that the Athletic
Department should feel
obligated to insure live
television coverage, either
closed-circuit or cable, for the
unfortunate mass of students
who will be unable to obtain
basketball tickets. Though far
from ideal, especially with the
realization that Dave Sparks'
loathsome carcass will
undoubtedly be seated in the
building for every game, only
with the greatest callousness
and injustice could the monguls
of the Athletic Department
deny this simple service to
ticketless students.

I close with a blast at the
new, improved, streamlined
ticket pick-up policy. I can
appreciate the necessity of
disallowing one man pick-ups
for entire dormitories,
fraternity houses, or vast
hordes of independents.
However, many students live in
groups of three or four. Last
year's ticket policy
accommodated perfectly just
such an arrangement. This
system was restrictive enough
to restrain an immediate
depletion of the tickets by a
well organized few, yet flexible
enough to allow small groups
to obtain seats together
without an inordinate amount
of waiting for anyone in each
group.

Good luck Wahoos and long
live Chris Cramer!

Lewis A. Martin. III