To the editor:

The front-page panoramic photo of construction of the new football complex was a telling commentary on the power of money. Supine, the university allowed the bulldozing of the campus’ most historic and beautiful site in the name of sports revenue. It is of a piece with the decision to move the Kansas-Missouri game, probably in perpetuity, to Kansas City.

This multimillion dollar monument to the Big 12 athletic arms race may well have diverted donor contributions from academic programs. It will further isolate KU athlete students from the rest of the student body. Meantime, the first four games of the season are against no-name teams, allowing KU football to get a jump toward winning six games and becoming eligible for a second-rate bowl invitation.

All of this wretched excess is justified on the grounds that everyone else is doing it, too. As a Kansas University alum, I find myself feeling a sense of shame and alienation from a university once dear to my heart.

William Dickinson,

Lawrence