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Printer-Friendly Mode'Battle' debacle insulting to students
October 17, 2005 —
Many who attended the football game Saturday night in Allendale probably are not aware that the SVSU and GVSU student bodies raised over $20,000 for their selected charities as part of the annual "Battle of the Valleys" fund-raising competition between the two rivals. The reason no one knows is that host Grand Valley missed the boat this year, failing to properly recognize the effort and hard work put forth by both schools' students, insulting everyone associated with the fund-raiser in the process.
For the third consecutive year, the Student Association and Grand Valley's Student Senate sponsored the week-long competition to see which school could raise the most money for their charity of choice. Grand Valley won the event in its inaugural year, SVSU won the battle last year, and both schools set lofty goals for this year's competition. And yet, as Saturday progressed and the culmination of the event approached, it became apparent that Grand Valley did an embarrassingly poor job coordinating the event. Or they simply did not care.
Just a few hours before the game, SA president Emily Hammerbacher said she received a phone call from the president of the GVSU Student Senate requesting the total dollar amount SVSU raised. Curious as to the purpose of the call, Hammerbacher in return requested Grand Valley's total. It was then that the Senate president informed her that they failed to properly coordinate the event or contact the necessary people and that there would be no on-field ceremony between quarters as in previous years.
The severity in which Grand Valley messed up is mind boggling. "Battle of the Valleys" was not a last minute idea and GVSU knew they would be hosting the game, and yet somehow it was put on the back burner and forgotten about. That alone would be reason enough to criticize, but that is not even the most embarrassing part of the whole fiasco.
SA had selected Hurricane Katrina victims relocated to the mid-Michigan area as the beneficiaries of the fund-raising. To help with the coordination, it contacted the local United Way to assist them and invited one of their representatives to the game for the check presentation ceremony. But since Hammerbacher was not told there wouldn't be a ceremony until right before the game, the representative wasted their time in traveling to Allendale.
And it gets worse.
Hammerbacher was also told there would be an announcement as to the amount of money the schools had raised. And indeed, the announcement was made, but instead of coming between the third and fourth quarters as everyone expected, it was made during halftime, when most people were either in the bathroom or didn't hear it because their ears were still ringing from the Grand Valley marching band. Thus, the celebration of a week's worth of fund-raising was done before most even knew it was happening.
How Grand Valley managed to mess up so bad will probably remain unknown. But there is no doubt that the efforts of both schools should have been better recognized and the selected charities applauded. At the least, a ceremony should have been held during halftime in place of the guy answering trivia questions for a chance to kick a field goal for a year's worth of free pizza.
It's probably also worth mentioning that of the more than $20,000 earned, only a little over $7,000 of it came from Grand Valley, a school with more than twice as many people as SVSU. Perhaps the reason for the lack of celebration was a result of embarrassment more than anything. One would think that a school capable of funding an expensive new scoreboard would be able to beat little ol' Saginaw Valley in a fundraiser.
Despite the insulting way it was handled, Hammerbacher and SA are refusing to let it bother them. Instead, they are focusing on the fact that two worthy charities were given nice donations which will positively affect many people's lives. SA is already ready to go one step further, as they are in discussions to bring some of the families affected by Katrina to the University for a day, showing them a fun time and supplying them with the things they so desperately need.
We congratulate SA on a job well done with this year's "Battle of the Valleys" and hope that next year's will be even better. And while Grand Valley may have won on the field, our Student Association reminds us that we are still winners and helps us see that the only people who should have been embarrassed Saturday night were the members of the Grand Valley Student Senate.