As I watched letter after letter be printed about Matt Dees' article about the Carolina Athletic Association and how "astonished" and "shocked" people were that he expressed his own opinion, I thought I would stay quiet. But after reading Lisa Vucelich's March 8 letter claiming that Dees wrote an "awful opinion piece and no class whatsoever," I had to respond.
Regardless of the validity of the arguments, there is a wide belief on this campus that there are serious problems with the CAA. The allegations surrounding the Duke ticket distribution, rumors that the CAA president gets 40 tickets which he dispenses like some Third-World dictator dispensing favors, and the power of Carolina Fever all combine to give the CAA a bad reputation.
As to Dees' column criticizing Reid Chaney, Vucelich -- get a clue.
It was obvious that Michael Songer was taking on an organization that is secretive and one that many believe has serious problems.
In addition, he planned on taking away the 169 lower level seats allocated to Carolina Fever. (Which, as has been noted, is 14 percent of the lower-level tickets allocated for students).
Chaney, as Dees pointed out, was clearly running on a platform that would not radically alter the CAA, ensuring support from those who benefit from its current policies.
Anyone who read about or attended the Carolina Fever forum on the CAA president knows that Songer was hated by everyone in that organization and that Chaney was the "establishment" candidate.
To everyone in the student body: The best manner for you to change the process is to demand answers to the following questions: How many tickets does the CAA president get per semester?
How do you get a job with the CAA (those people holding up signs and in the box office)?
