Mumpower, Crowe to tax ETSU students for football program

[Elmer Gantry]

Mumpower, Crowe to tax ETSU students for football
http://www.tricities.com/tri/news/local/education/article/-TRI_2008_04_02_0006/7921/

Football is an issue that just won’t go away for ETSU and its athletic program.

The Bucs’ 83-year relationship with the sport came to a sudden end following the conclusion of the 2003 season, when ETSU dropped the sport because of budget constraints.

Last April, a student ballot referendum to gradually increase student athletic fees and effectively kickstart the return of football failed when 3,229 students – 27 percent of the student body – voted down the proposal.

And today a resolution supporting the reinstatement of ETSU’s football program will go before the Tennessee House of Representatives.

The resolution, spearheaded by state Sen. Rusty Crowe, R-Johnson City, was approved in a unanimous vote in the Senate on Feb. 11.

State Rep. Jason Mumpower, R-Bristol, said he’s confident the resolution will receive approval in the House and then be forwarded to Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen for his signature.

Mumpower said he accumulated "dozens" of positive responses to the resolution and no negative comments, while Crowe estimated he received "between 100 and 200" positive forms of feedback, including e-mails, handwritten letters and phone calls, and only 10 negative comments – all from ETSU faculty members.

Should the resolution pass in the House, it would join previous declarations by the Senate and officials with Sullivan and Washington counties expressing support for the return of Buc football.

"It’s disappointing to me," said Mumpower, who indicated that neither he nor Crowe has been contacted by ETSU since the resolution was approved in the Senate. "If [ETSU faculty members] think it’s going to take funds away from their academic pursuits, if they would look at the whole business plan, they would understand that [reinstating football at ETSU] may indeed help bring more to the university as a whole, and help lift everybody’s boat."

And while Crowe said he was overwhelmed and enthused by the response he drew from the regional community in support of the resolution, Stanton said he was simply caught off guard.

Stanton considered the issue of football off the table for the time being, since no new avenues of funding had appeared.

"We had our own task force to look at bringing back football, and it [wasn’t successful]," Stanton said. "I don’t know of any new information right now that changes the outcome of that in the future."