I know many students like yourself hate the idea of having to fund NIU’s new $36 million project through student fees, but our athletic programs will never get any respect if we don’t have the presentation to back it up.

With all the gripes students have about this school, this one has merit &although I must admit, putting a video camera on top of Stevenson South to monitor the arena’s progress and broadcasting it on the NIU Web site is a bit much. But the school can’t deny its need.

True, a referendum may never have taken place, but the fact remains, the project got approved. The arena is coming, and students have been paying for it &and will continue to &whether they like it or not. We might as well enjoy its benefits.

The construction couldn’t have come at a better time. Bringing his recruiting wizardry from the University of Illinois, newly-hired men’s basketball coach Rob Judson should breathe new life into a deteriorating program. Almost every other program shares a bright future. For those of you who didn’t know, NIU athletics is on the rise.

The Huskie volleyball team is on the verge of breaking the National Top 25. The football team only keeps getting better. Wrestling has two, possibly three potential All-American candidates next year. And the women’s basketball team returns all but one player from an underclassmen-dominated team that took the Mid-American Conference by storm.

These teams deserve a new arena to house their games. The atmosphere of each contest held there will contrast greatly from the old wooden bleachers of Chick Evans Field House, which resembles a high school gymnasium more than a Division I facility.

The opening of an arena marks a bold step toward NIU establishing itself as more than just a school where all the students will go home every weekend. The entire community will benefit from this, too.

With the center’s stadium seating and larger attendance capacity, students and DeKalb residents will be drawn to Huskie athletic events as well as concerts and shows.

You might say this is a sports fan talking, and most students won’t care. What about the students who used to fill Chick Evans at every home volleyball game just two years ago? Where have they gone? What about the thousands of students who piled into the football stadium last fall?

Sure, there are many of you who never will attend an athletic event. But there are many who do, and that number will grow as the new arena generates interest. Illinois State’s Redbird Arena already has generated more interest for its athletic programs, and it also played host to other, bigger events such as concerts and high school championships.

Schools like the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign had to start somewhere. National level programs don’t begin overnight, and neither will NIU’s.

But the arena, opening in fall 2002, at least will provide a start.Joe Lacdan