One school, athletic double standard

One school, two campuses. We put this slogan on pamphlets and promotional videos yet in many ways we are two separate schools. St. Ben’s sports teams pay St. John’s to use facilities for practice and competitions. St. John’s has many services such as tutoring, gyms and the rock climbing wall that St. John’s house and fund for both Bennies and Johnnies to use. The dome at SJU is maintained by funds from St. John’s students and was donated by a St. John’s alum, so it is understandable that the dome would give preferential treatment to Johnnies. As a member of the St. Ben’s Track and Field team, I (Erika) find myself and my teammates waking up at 5:30 a.m. to use the facilities that we are paying to use, because of the lack of space at prime practice times during the day. St. Ben’s does not have the appropriate facilities to house their own track and field team to practice safely nor the facilities to host swim and dive meets. This is hard to accept, given the beautiful facilities we house at St. Ben’s. I ask, why decisions were made to not give track and field safe and appropriate facilities to practice and compete on? Why was the swim and dive team not given appropriate facilities to compete at? Why do St. Ben’s sports teams’ budgets have to suffer because of the lack of facilities provided for athletes?

I find it troubling that St. Ben’s athletes are not given the same privileges as Johnnies to use such facilities. “Our student-athletes deserve quality facilities. When CSB athletes do not have the necessary facilities on campus, we rent the space elsewhere. If we did not rent the space at SJU, we would spend the money elsewhere on rental for a different facility,” said St. Ben’s Athletic Director Kelly Anderson-Diercks. The practice of renting sports facilities elsewhere is also seen with other sports teams on campus. For example, both the St. Ben’s and St. John’s Hockey teams have to rent ice time in St. Cloud. With the adoption of one president for both campuses, the struggle to use our own school’s facilities does not communicate the ideas associated with “one school.” In the spring of 2019, St. Ben’s track and field throwers were told they would not be allowed to practice in the brand new facilities built for their event at the same time as Johnnie throwers, because the coach had heard that St. Ben’s track and field thrower athletes were talking about the challenges Bennies face when trying to find time and space to practice.

Fees help pay for the maintenance of facilities and ensure they are in the best condition for athletes, however, they have created divisions that the athletes are feeling. As a school that reiterates the “one school, two campuses” slogan, it is hard to believe that they have genuinely committed to this statement when they continue to reinforce the divisions between campuses.