To the editor:

I am a disinterested observer in the controversy about the Kansas University basketball season tickets.

The university has stated that this new plan was forced by need for money. The university has to keep up with Missouri and the University of Texas. KU is not, and will never be, the University of Texas; the demographics involved are very different.

College athletics has sadly become a corporate scam. Corporate “suits” have infused themselves in the management of athletics and turned what used to be sports into a cash cow. And, as with all money ventures, there is never enough; more money breeds more corporate greed. Gone are the ethics, morality and integrity of management of what you have, priorities of what is important, and satisfaction of achievement of high ideals. Now, the lust for more, the abandonment of loyalty and downright greed have become the hallmarks of college sports.

The despicable and deplorable treatment of KU fans with long-standing season tickets is a good example of such lack of ethics. KU grads will go on into American businesses and occupy seats of management. When the next Enron or Worldcom scandal erupts, many questions of “where did these people with this lack of ethics come from” will be asked. I would point them to the examples set for them by the administration of the KU athletic department and their treatment of longtime fans.

“Well, they are doing it at Missouri” was stated. Pointing out bad behavior does not justify your own behavior.

Fred Whitehead Jr.,

Lawrence