The Stampede Savings program is a wonderful idea.

It is hard to believe that any of us here at SMU areparticularly opposed to the school getting additional funding.

The problem with the Stampede Savings Card lies not in the moneyit makes, but rather the way this money is being distributed.

As it stands, 50 percent goes to the athletic department, whilethe alumni association and the university split the remaining 50percent of approximately $60,000.

At first glance, perhaps, there seems to be nothing wrong withthis picture.

The money is being divvied up among the three most importantinstitutions on campus and the portions themselves are relativelyfair.

The Ed Board’s concern lies in who is getting whatportion. Why exactly is SMU athletics getting the largest cut?

Why should the largest slice of pie not go to the hungriestdiner, the university itself?

Things might be a little different if the athletics departmentcontributed money back to the university, but as it is, the sportsthat will receive most of this money, basketball and football, areveritable financial sinkholes.

It is not that they do not deserve some additional funding, butwith consistently rising tuition costs and ambitious additionsplanned for the Dedman Lifetime Center, the university could standa bigger chunk of change.

And why must we look to the future expenditures to see the needfor this money.

Our foreign language department does not have its own building;it has to share Clements with the math department.

And how many of you have ever had a class in Hyer Hall, thedilapidated refuge of the Philosophy department where theprofessors must share offices because there are not enough rooms toaccommodate the full faculty.

Take a good long look at Ford Stadium and then sit in aclassroom in Clements; it will be inordinately clear who deservesthe 50 percent.

Sports are a wonderful accent to daily life and an excellentopportunity to better oneself, and while many of SMU’s sportsteams do quite well, they still are secondary to the education.

Southern Methodist University is an establishment of higherlearning, so we should treat it like one.