Head ushers need new ideas

On Dec. 1, the Graduate & Professional Student Head Ushers announced that the Athletic Department has decided to allow no children in the graduate student section due to safety concerns. This policy change applies regardless of the child's age and runs counter to practices used since at least the beginning of the 2003-2004 season. I believe the policy should be changed for the following reasons.

First, the timing of this decision is awful. During the holiday break, Cameron Indoor Stadium becomes less crowded, and many graduate and professional students reserve their share of pooled tickets during this time so they can take their children to the games. Because this decision was announced Dec. 1 rather than prior to Campout, these students have no other option to take their children to a game this season. For some, a memorable holiday gift has been lost.

Second, the Head Ushers assured me that this decision was made purely due to safety and liability concerns. If that were truly the case, several less-restrictive alternatives might have been selected including:

(1) Discriminating based on age. Surely, an 8, 10, 12, 14, or 16 year-old child is not the same safety risk as an infant or toddler.

(2) Allowing children into games during the winter break. The graduate and professional student section during these games is rarely filled to capacity and tends to be less rowdy.

(3) Designate a family section for graduate and professional students. Typically, there are only a handful of children at any given game. The head ushers could reserve a small section of seats in the graduate student section for families, perhaps in the less-active section behind the Duke bench, which is rarely on television. Alternatively, the Athletic Department could reserve about 10 seats in the cushioned bench section behind the Duke bench or in the upper level of Cameron.

Graduate and professional students are obviously older than our undergraduate counterparts and are much more likely to have families. The opportunity to take a child to a game is a special occasion for both the parent and the child. It is the kind of occasion where life-long Duke fans are born. Most of us cannot afford to donate thousands of dollars for the opportunity to purchase a seat in the upper level or to pay the exorbitant prices of a scalper or E-bay. Instead of playing Scrooge due to fears of liability, right before the holidays, the Athletic Department has an opportunity to rectify the situation by choosing a less-restrictive solution.

Ben Ahlstrom