MSA releases petition against Reactor restrictions

MSA hopes the athletics department will consider the petition.

By Rachel Allred

Published Sept. 1, 2009

The Missouri Students Association posted a petition Monday to give students an opportunity to voice their opinions about the restrictions recently implemented on Reactor Field.

At the beginning of the school year, MSA President Jordan Paul and other student leaders were informed Reactor Field would no longer be available to the public. Since then, Paul has met with members of the athletics department to discuss providing an area for students to socialize before football games.

The most recent meeting was held last Friday between Paul, Athletics Director Mike Alden and Senior Associate Athletics Director Whit Babcock. Paul put a petition into effect because the results of the meetings were undesirable, he said.

"At the moment, athletics isn't in a position to do anything," Paul said. "They don't control the parking. We decided last week that if the talks weren't productive, we would have to go public with it."

MSA Student Communications Director Tim Noce began preparing the petition last week. Noce said one purpose of the petition is to help MSA know what students are really looking for.

"What we really hope will come out of it is the honest student voice," Noce said.

Not only will the petition, give students a chance to voice their opinion, but it will also give MSA more momentum and help MSA know what they should do next in their attempt to find a socializing place for students, Noce said.

"Ten thousand signatures have more backbone than just a few students," Noce said. "If we get a low turnout, obviously students don't really want it back, and we'll be forced to take the default route and see what happens after the first few football games."

The petition will be available online via the MSA Web site.

"We the undersigned do respectfully oppose the closing of Reactor Field for student use during the football season beginning in the 2009-2010 academic year," the petition states. "We have concerns that this closing will not eliminate the fan behavior issues, but rather threatens to both exacerbate them and displace student football fans."

Paul said this type of situation is not one MSA typically sees, but the petition will show what students' mood is toward the restrictions placed on Reactor Field.

"It's a pretty unusual issue," Paul said. "It's not a run of the mill student government procedure."

Athletics department spokesman Chad Moller said the outcome of the petition will be taken into consideration.

"We certainly value input from all of our constituents, and students are possibly the most important group that we cater to," Moller said. "I have no idea what the result will be. Whether it's positive or negative, we will put that into consideration."

Although Reactor will no longer be available to the public, Moller said there are plenty of places for the public to park, especially with the garage that opened in early July.

Paul said he still wants a space dedicated to student use.

"We're not married to getting Reactor back," Paul said, "But we're going to need some sort of student space whether it's Reactor or not."