It's contradicting to preserve Sparty for posterity and then not allow him to be seen by all Spartans.
Even worse is to only allow Spartans who pay big money to see the statue.
The terra cotta Sparty statue was relocated this summer to the new Spartan Stadium addition, leaving a bronze replica placed in the intersection of Kalamazoo Street, Red Cedar and Chestnut roads. It just so happens that this same stadium addition includes the luxury and media suites as well as various athletic offices.
David Poulson's column "Faculty member upset about Sparty being segregated from fans" (SN 9/8) surfaced the restricted access to one of the most prominent symbols of our university. Poulson discovered, while being escorted away by a guard, that the lobby where the statue is placed could only be accessed during the game by luxury suite ticket holders.
There is no harm done if there are non-luxury suite ticket holders on the first-floor lobby when the suites themselves are floors above. Isn't the idea of putting Sparty in the lobby to have the public see it?
Limiting visitation to the old Sparty to a certain group of people at any one time is creating an elite class of fans.
They can pay to be in the suites, they might get to pay to drink inside the stadium and now they can pay to see the Sparty statue uninterrupted while everyone else can only peer through a glass window.
Comparably, that's like saying anyone could meet or hug the Sparty mascot, but you have to pay to do so.
It's wrong to limit a key piece of Spartan history to certain people or designated times. A policy like this does not promote camaraderie and togetherness, which seems to be the point of going to a campus event.
President Lou Anna K. Simon should be worried about such a division developing at MSU. It will be hard to pull together her "Boldness by Design" initiative amongst a divided community.
It goes against the whole land-grant promise to provide an affordable education and equal opportunity administrators seem to reference so often.
Sure, there's almost the exact same statue a stone's throw away from the stadium. It isn't that hard for people to visit before or after the game. And rules regarding lobby access are only imposed for game days.
But it's equally ridiculous not to be able to see Sparty.
Students are the reason there's a university and they've paid a lot to be here.
Even ASMSU shelled out $75,000 to help move the statue.
Faculty have spent a lot of time helping build MSU's academic prestige.
Alumni give both money and time to help promote MSU.
These people should be able to enjoy what this campus has to offer and take pride in MSU without having to look over a security guard's shoulder.
