To the editor:

We read with dismay that the $300 million stadium plan has now ballooned to $350 million. This is a LOT of money: KU faculty members have seen a 9 percent average salary cut since 2009, are now 11 percent below average and are the lowest paid among Big 12 Association of American Universities (AAU) institutions. Three hundred and fifty million dollars could cover a 10-plus percent tuition reduction for a decade. It could pay for “adequate safety measures” to keep guns off the entire campus more than three times over, or support a cohort of lawmakers who would repeal the law. Somehow KU can dig up $350 million for athletics … but couldn’t find the funds to pay 600 graduate teaching assistants on time this semester.

To waste such money on skyboxes, fancy food and blinking lights is a slap in the face to cash-strapped students, faculty, staff and parents who struggle with KU’s ever-increasing tuition bills. As always, Kansas Athletics Inc. will claim that it is “independent” of KU. Somehow KAI gets half of the revenue generated by KU trademarks in spite of having nothing to do with their creation. They pay not a dime in rent for the ground they’re on, suck up millions in “school funds” and support only a handful of “Athleticships.” Given that KU is teetering on losing its AAU membership (a mark that adds thousands of dollars of value each year to the earning potential of KU degrees), perhaps the $350 million would be better spent on something that actually helps KU academically rather than on a project to enrich a few well-connected contractors.