Letter to the Editor

To whom it may concern:

I do not come to you as Student Government President, not as a friend of President Shalala’s, not as a Miami native. I come to you simply as a student, a senior and a fan of our football team. I will try to refute as many of the points made by students, The Hurricane, and various others in this fair space, but there is much to refute: I simply cannot get to all of it.

The decision to move to Dolphin Stadium has been made. This is a given, and will be my fundamental starting point. So, to accept this inevitability and then to say things such as “.don’t buy a ticket that supports the dollar signs behind this act of treason against all those who love the U” is reckless, tactless and uncouth. This statement, and the many like it that propose to boycott Dolphin Stadium do nothing to the “.politician[s].Donna Shalala, and the Trustees.” In December of next year, Donna Shalala will still be president, and the Trustees will still be on the Board.

A statement like the aforementioned hurts many people, but not the ones I just mentioned. The statement hurts the Band of the Hour who spends hours a week to get ready to support this football team. It hurts the student assistants who volunteer their time to facilitate practice, to support this football team. It hurts the cheerleaders and dancers who spend countless hours perfecting their routines to support this football team. It hurts every other student, who I do not have space to mention that volunteers time both on game day but also during the week to support this football team.

Most of all, a statement similar to the aforesaid hurts this football team. It hurts the players who were out in the July sun (and even much before that), working two a days in preparation to annihilate our opponents while we were at home on our couches in the A/C. It hurts the coaching staff and Randy Shannon who have dedicated their efforts in the football team’s success.

These hardworking people, who just like you and I, want to see our football team achieve a National Championship, regardless of their thoughts on the move, will still be at Dolphin Stadium, to do nothing else but support this football team. I urge my fellow students to do the same.

Our team’s sweat, blood and tears all become for naught if the people that propose boycott are taken seriously. Luckily, in reading through my emails and the responses on The Hurricane’s own website to such articles, these people are not considered to be serious. The bottom line is we will see this football team through any thing: victory, defeat, injuries, tragedy, and the glory, which they are about to achieve. We can certainly see this football team through a stadium move and I know most students love the football team enough to do that.

Go ‘Canes!

Danny Carvajal

Danny Carvajal is the Student Government president.

Posted Aug. 30 at 12:30 p.m.