Open fields for recreational use

At risk of boring SMU with another rant, I have discovered yet another faux pas committed by our hardworking university. While playing Frisbee on the intramural fields Wednesday, my friends and I were approached by a friendly neighborhood SMU PD officer, who informed us in most courteous way to get our derrieres off the field. We were in violation of university policy (stately capitalized to emphasize severity).

In the grand tradition of investigative journalism, I took the next step and, you know, investigated. Accompanied by a friend, I spoke to Intramural Director Chris Hutton about the aforementioned university policy.

Hutton informed me that the intramural fields are a $2 million dollar piece of property. (A staggering number, considering the intramural fields are 80 percent dust.) The fields, he added, are closed all week except for intramural and club sport games and from 4-7 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Taken aback, my friends and I considered other options, before realizing that there were none. Sorority park is great but far too small to meet the needs of the entire campus. Not to mention that in the afternoon hours UP youth soccer teams often practice there and use up most of the space.

The soccer field looks beautiful, but I also like my face, and would rather not risk it on the prison-quality barbed wire that protects the grounds.

There is the quad or the Boulevard – both of which are too small and too busy to work for any kind of sporting. We even momentarily considered playing on the strip of grass outside the police station just for irony’s sake but decided, prudently, against that.

SMU has expressed interest in reviving a sense of campus life and unity. Recently, rumor has come through the grapevine that we might even go so far as to require sophomores to live on campus.

I propose another option: Why not open up the fields for general student use? Doesn’t your conception of college include people playing Frisbee, soccer, football or any other sport on beautiful afternoons like the last few we have had? I know mine does. I suppose this wouldn’t be such a big deal if we went to the University of Montana (no slight on Montana, go Grizzlies!), but this is Dallas and there aren’t exactly wide-open fields conveniently located off campus for students to use.

Many of our benchmark schools also have open fields available for the sporting sort. Duke and Vandy, for example, have beautiful fields open for students to use.

So lets change university policy and open up the intramural fields, surely having a more vibrant campus life outweighs a little bit of grass.