All-expense paid trips source of controversy

The student body presidents and vice presidents of the University of Northern Iowa have long been included in travel parties to tournament basketball and football games funded by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and Missouri Valley Conference (MVC). The trips are all-expense-paid, but the NCAA and the MVC do not stipulate that student body presidents and vice presidents are required to be a part of the travel party, said Gregory Davies, assistant UNI Athletic Director for Business, via email correspondence.

Since the UNI student body president has traditionally served as chair of the Student Services Fee Committee — a committee that determines the amount of money that goes to certain university organizations, including the Athletic Department (AD) — Mitch Lingo, UNI alumnus and former Northern Iowa Student Government Speaker of the Senate, said he finds the invitation from the AD to the presidents and vice presidents similar to lobbying.

"What I see happening is lobbying. And lobbying is politics — it's just like in any other political system, and it's about building relationships," Lingo said. "Once you're in that relationship, like any relationship, it's hard to go back on that relationship. They (the AD) pick who goes, and it's up to them, and it's up to the president and vice president to say yes or no."

According to Davies, the AD includes the student body president and vice president in the travel party because of the representation they provide.

"This has been a long standing invitation, in part because student fee income is a significant part of the athletic department budget," Davies said. "This is a way NISG representatives can observe and have a part in our championship experiences and, if you will, watch over the programs in which the students are invested.

"(The AD) offers the travel opportunity to the NISG president and vice president as the leadership of the student body. We are open to alternatives if the NISG believes that to be appropriate," Davies added.

Student body president Spencer Walrath, who accepted an all-expense-paid trip to the NCAA quarterfinal Montana vs. UNI football game earlier this year, said he believes the invitation from the AD is not a conflict of interest, and it is separate from his role as chair of the Student Services Fee Committee.

"I think that people confuse the distinction between my role as president of the student body: head of state and the president of NISG: head of government," Walrath said. "As president of the student body, I'm asked to attend various ceremonies and events as a guest and (a) representative of (the) students. As president of NISG, I sit on several committees and manage the executive branch. They are two completely separate roles embodied in the same person, and that's the way it's designed to work, just like in the United States government."

Joel Anderson, who served as the student body president in the '10-'11 school year, said he believes when he once accepted tickets to a Syracuse game and did not disclose it to the Student Services Fee Committee, it was a conflict of interest, but one that could have been dealt with.  

"It was one of those conflicts that could have been taken care of if I had disclosed it to the committee and said, ‘Hey, I'd been offered this trip and I had taken it and I'm going to refuse myself from speaking on the application and voting on it.' That would've gotten rid of conflicts of interests," Anderson said.

Lingo believes fans or other supporting members of athletics, such as cheerleaders and marching band members, should receive the chance to obtain the all-expense-paid trips, rather than the student body president or vice president.

"You know what — this isn't right. This isn't right that two students are picked out of everyone else," Lingo said.

Lingo suggested the AD instead take a list from UNItix data of those who attend every game and raffle off tickets to be included in the travel party.  Lingo feels this would involve "those who support the Panthers."

"I'm smart enough to know that (with) a 130 (person) travel party, you got the whole football staff, you've got the university administrators, (so) there's not enough spots for the entire marching band to go there, along with the cheerleaders, unless they find outside funding. So give it a shot to the people who are supporting the Panthers, who are supporting staff at the games," Lingo said.

Anderson agreed a raffle would be a good idea. Walrath also said he thought a raffle "would be neat." "That's something the AD should definitely consider because that would be neat. It was kind of sad because there was only three UNI students at the (Montana) game and two of them were (me and vice president Ian Goldsmith)," Walrath said.

When asked for the AD's thoughts on the idea of a raffle, Davies responded, "Fans are not part of the official university travel party."

However, Davies said for certain events, cheerleaders and band members are included in the travel party.

"The NCAA and MVC specify and provide for the inclusion of cheerleaders and band members in the official travel party for selected post-season tournaments," Davies said. "These groups travel annually to the MVC basketball tournaments. They have also traveled in the past to NCAA basketball and football championship events."

Walrath said he does not believe any all-expense paid invitation is due to his role as chair of the Student Services Fee Committee.

"As president, you're kind of a figurehead among other things, so people are courteous enough to invite you to things because they want to make sure that you're involved with any notable events on campus and that you're supporting UNI programs," Walrath said. "I doubt that part of the thought process is, ‘Well, he's chair of the Student Services Fee Committee; maybe this will get us more money.' Whatever I vote is negated by nine other people on this committee, and trust me, especially the faculty and staff, they are very watchful of any influence that I may have."

Lingo believes the first priority should be UNI students.

"I think that these reserved seats should be going to the students," Lingo said. "The model when I was at UNI was students first, and that's a big thing for me. Don't give them (the seats) to any NISG members."

Walrath said he wants to reassure students that his number one priority is representing them.

"It is my goal to support those aspects of the Panther experience that students value, while doing everything in my power to ease the burden of tuition and fees on students," Walrath said. "It's a difficult balancing act, to be sure. But I promise every student at the university that keeping the cost of attending UNI affordable is my top priority."