At Student Assembly’s last two meetings, one particular issue that has been under continuous debate is approval of funding for the student organization SAAC.
The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) was founded in 1989 by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), with a mission to “enhance the total student-athlete experience by promoting opportunity, protecting student-athlete welfare and fostering a positive student-athlete image.”
At Hamilton, the aim of SAAC is to represent and support our 29 varsity teams and make sure there is diversity and equality within the athletic department. The student-athlete committees also seek to create a positive atmosphere of sportsmanship, in which both student athletes and fans reach their full potential and strive “toward higher goals.”
At this year’s Student Assembly funding meeting, SAAC submitted a budget for pizza and hats to hand out to fans at home games. The recommended budget for the hats was $2,500, but some members of Student Assembly were more apprehensive about providing this funding. Noam Barnhard ’18 addressed the purported exclusivity of SAAC, stating that they “solely support varsity sports. They already receive a lot of money from the school and are relatively well attended. I think SAAC should consider giving some of their attention to some of these club sports.”
Jon Stanhope ’18 agreed, arguing that because SAAC is made up of student-athletes, “they should be funded by the athletic department.”
The discussion was tabled at the first funding meeting, but at the following week’s, Darby Philbrick ’18, co-president of SAAC, was able to address some of the aforementioned concerns. Arguing that because communication between student-athletes, coaches, and the administration is geared towards encouraging the athletic and academic growth of students, “it’s been a longstanding tradition that SAAC really only represents varsity athletes.” However, she acknowledged a willingness to discuss pursuing other options, stating that if club sports were to be represented by SAAC, the representatives of those sports would be expected to “uphold all of the duties that SAAC reps uphold, which is going to our community service organized events, coming to our meetings, fulfilling everything that we ask of SAAC reps.”
Including club sports was just one point of contention; the specific gear being handed out to fans and the effects of the free products were also strong aspects to consider in the context of providing funding. Philbrick provided statistics for several Games of the Week, in which a marked increase of attendance was seen in sports like basketball, field hockey, and soccer when promotional gear was handed out. Philbrick added that this gear is “for anyone in the Hamilton or Clinton community,” and that “attending the game is a campus-wide activity for anyone to enjoy — the goal is not to celebrate athletes only.”
In the end, the SAAC funding passed with a new total recommendation of $3,596. However, the debate in Student Assembly raised interesting issues about including club sports and perhaps being subsidized in part by the athletics department, suggesting that there will be continued discussions concerning SAAC for the future.
