A proposed stadium/athletic student-fee referendum has cleared another hurdle in the University of North Texas Student Government Association. An SGA committee reviewing the referendum proposal returned it to UNT's Student Senate, unanimously with no revisions. On Wednesday, the Senate will vote to include a stadium-fee referendum on the fall elections ballot, scheduled for a Oct. 13-17 vote.
If credible opposition to a new student fee to help fund UNT's athletic department and a proposed new football stadium -- expected to be $10 per semester hour after the stadium is built -- really exists, Wednesday's Senate meeting will be its latest best opportunity to speak up. If the Senate approves a referendum with little resistance, that could be a sign UNT students who care about moving athletics into a much-needed new era are ready to do so.
I'm curious when a major university in Texas the size of UNT (over 34,000 enrolled) last placed an issue of this magnitude before its student body. If you count the 2002 referendum to help fund Title IX athletic initiatives at UNT, it's happened twice now in Denton.
--Troy Phillips
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