Final Four distribution causes distress

The Carolina Athletic Association once more is facing criticism of its ticket-distribution methods.

Officials of the student athletic organization were charged with publishing the distribution of Final Four tickets that took place Monday. Those who entered their names in a lottery had a chance to obtain the coveted prize.

Now students who were hoping to support the men’s basketball team in St. Louis this weekend are saying that CAA did not adequately publicize the contest to purchase tickets.

And some are questioning just how many tickets went to members of the group.

The association posted a message on its Web site and sent an e-mail to its 2,000-member listserv — the best possible ways to pass along the information given time constraints, CAA officials say.

Student Solicitor General Matt Liles said he did not find out about the process until after the deadline passed.

“I consider myself pretty well-connected on campus, and if I didn’t hear about it, then the average student probably didn’t either,” Liles said.

CAA President Lindsay Strunk insists that the association tried its best to spread the word.

“When you find out Sunday night at 10 o’clock, there’s not a lot you can do,” said Strunk, who will not attend the Final Four.

Liles said posting the information on the Internet was not sufficient.

“Yes, it’s on the CAA Web site, but that’s not somewhere people frequent every day,” he said.

Ticket-holder Bayley Crane, co-chairwoman of CAA’s Homecoming committee, said she found out about the tickets through word of mouth.

“My roommate called me at 11 a.m. and said we were going down to the ticket office,” Crane said.

Crane said 500 students signed up for the lottery. She said there were 20 sign-up lists, each containing the names of 25 UNC students.

Students were given a choice between $130 upper-level seating and $170 lower-level seating.

“I heard that everyone who signed up got tickets,” Crane said. “But that doesn’t include people who changed their minds because of the cost.”

CAA President-elect Justin Johnson, who will not be traveling to St. Louis for the weekend, said the group failed to promote the opportunity properly.

He said the group could have advertised last week to let students know that there would be tickets available if the team won its games on Friday and Sunday.

Student Body President Matt Calabria said he and other members of student government did not learn about the process until Tuesday night.

He plans to investigate the situation to determine whether or not the lottery was conducted in an open fashion. “We need to make sure that in practice, as well as principle, the process was fair,” he said.

This is not the first time this year that student officials have taken an interest in looking more deeply at CAA’s methods of making tickets available to the student body.

In what many members described as a symbolic gesture, Congress voted down the association’s ticket distribution policy in November — just a few days before the first distribution of the season.

The body ultimately rubber-stamped the policy but launched an examination of CAA’s method.

Congress passed an amendment to the Student Code on March 22 requiring CAA to bring the method before the body for comment by its third full meeting.

Previously, the policy was required to come before Congress only “in the event of major changes.”

On March 10, conflicts reached their visible zenith before members of the Student Supreme Court — a body that had not convened in almost six years. The court ultimately rejected Congress member Domenick Grasso’s complaint regarding CAA’s allocation of 138 tickets to its members.

Title VII of the Student Code sets aside 40 tickets for the association and is slated for examination by the new session of Congress.

Strunk holds that CAA members were not given an unfair advantage in Monday’s lottery.

“No member of the CAA is going to the Final Four differently than any other student,” she said. “It was extremely fair and the most efficient way with such a short turnaround time.”

It seems that many students who missed the message about the distribution aren’t blaming CAA for anything but poor planning. “I don’t think there was any malicious intent,” Liles said. “I just think it should have been publicized a little more.”

For those without tickets to the Final Four, the Smith Center will broadcast the Illinois vs. Louisville game, followed by UNC vs. Michigan State, on Saturday. Doors will open for students, faculty and staff at 5 p.m and for the public at 5:30 p.m.

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.