To the editor:

In conversations at last week’s Native Sons and Daughters banquet, I discovered that other Kansas University alumni are quietly taking the same action I took this past weekend in rewriting my estate plan to remove the provision I’d made for the athletic department/Williams Educational Fund.

I’m well aware that the current non-Kansas athletic administration cares only for the immediate cash payday of a KU-MU game at Arrowhead with no regard for the long-term cost effects of such a move. However, my bequest was made “in return for the many years of enjoyment provided by KU football and basketball games.” The Arrowhead move and the likelihood of other similar actions by this department leadership have significantly eroded my enjoyment of KU athletics, so I’ve chosen to redirect my gift.

Anyone who pays attention knows that college athletic events are the most important tie that keeps alumni involved with their alma mater and inclined to support it financially. It may be different for the casual fan, but a big reason alumni come to KU games is because KU games are AT KU.

I’d encourage all those who’ve told me they’re not renewing season tickets and/or are rewriting their estate plans to share their decisions with the chancellor so that he can see a true cost-benefit analysis of this move when the time comes to decide about future KU-MU games and whatever similar plans the department is hatching. The athletic department may not care about the long-term financial health of the university, but the chancellor should.

Larry Tenopir,

Topeka