IU South Bend Student Government Association (SGA) president Stephen Salisbury said Friday he would uphold legislation passed by the SGA Senate that would fund a second set of jerseys for IUSB’s baseball team, a piece of legislation he had considered vetoing.
This comes after Salisbury used his weekly Preface column to seek input from students on the legislation that granted $4,500 to team for the jerseys.
Salisbury announced that he would not veto the legislation Friday at the SGA Senate meeting. At the meeting, Salisbury read from emails he received after seeking feedback from students. He declined to name the student athletes who wrote him the emails.
“I saw the article about how you might veto,” Salisbury read aloud to the SGA Senate from an email sent by someone who identified himself as an IUSB baseball player. “What I am trying to say is jerseys may not seem like a big thing, but when you invest in jerseys, you invest in the future of the program,” he continued.
Another respondent from whose email Salisbury read identified himself as a former Holy Cross baseball player. The Holy Cross baseball program, the writer reminded, ended at the same time IUSB’s began, and sent many student athletes to IUSB to continue their athletic pursuits.
“I’ve been let down by administration and coaches these last three years,” Salisbury read from the former Holy Cross player’s email, “and it’s time I finally get a chance to let my two cents in. It would mean a lot to all of us if you could pass our jerseys through and not veto them.”
Salisbury’s initial hesitation to pass the legislation came from a conversation with IUSB Athletic Director Steve Bruce. Bruce asked Salisbury to consider the precedent that such legislation would set, Salisbury reported. The Athletic Department normally seeks funding for the entire academic year and not in the piecemeal way that the jersey funding request might imply.
But the feedback swayed Salisbury the other way. “I am going to sign the legislation you all passed unanimously to get the jerseys,” Salisbury told the SGA Senate. “And whatever repercussions there are for that, as far as the administration, we can deal with that. That’s the administrations problem, not ours.”
