CU Arts needs an athletic counterpart

The Yankees almost brought another World Series to New York. The Giants and the Jets are well into their regular season. Madison Square Garden, home of both the Rangers and the Knicks, is about to be busy again. New York has more major league teams than any other city in the nation. Yet, although the CUID makes Columbia students basically VIPs at any major museum or theater in the city, Columbia does not provide students with a single opportunity to see one of the home teams play.

I am in no way criticizing the Arts Initiative at Columbia University for providing students with free or discounted access to museum exhibits and Broadway shows. Living on a student’s budget is not easy, and without the special access we get to museums and theaters, I would probably not even consider going. Visiting the Met or seeing a Broadway production is culturally and academically enriching, but not all of these initiatives serve a pedagogical purpose. To some extent the CU Arts Initiative is for entertainment.

A significant number of the events and venues that are covered under the CU Arts Initiative are only tangentially linked to the curriculum. Often these are experiences that are uniquely identifiable with New York City. Another portion of the CU Arts Initiative is entirely unrelated to the curriculum. A discount to AMC movie theaters hardly counts as academically beneficial or culturally enriching. There really is no institutional goal served by making it cheaper for students to see the latest Harry Potter movie. This part of the CU Arts Initiative is really just a nice thing for the University to do. Put bluntly, the CU Arts Initiative is a good way for students to experience the city at a low cost.

Yet we cannot paint a complete picture of New York’s culture without the sports. There is a reason why New Yorkers hate the Red Sox, why they like Eli more than Peyton, and why people wear blue jerseys around Penn Station when the Rangers are skating at home.

Seeing A-Rod hit a home run or Lundqvist get a shutout is as culturally emblematic of New York as seeing “The Lion King” on Broadway or visiting the Frick.

However, just as museum and Broadway tickets are often beyond the means of most college students, sports in this city aren’t exactly affordable. Sitting in the bleachers at Yankee Stadium usually costs just $14, but to see Marian Gaborik hit top shelf at the Garden costs at least $50. To see LT make some carries: $116 plus surcharges and tax.

There is no logical reason why Columbia should focus on just one aspect of life in New York City. I am not trying to say that Columbia should buy a section’s worth of season tickets at Giants Stadium, just as I wouldn’t say that Columbia must buy an entire row’s worth of tickets to every Broadway show. But there is no way that every seat is taken at a regular season Yankees game when they play the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Columbia obviously has enough sway to convince the Guggenheim and MoMA to admit its students without charge. Why can’t the Yankees or the Rangers do the same? Granted, the Guggenheim isn’t looking for profit, but the Yankees aren’t exactly losing much by giving Columbia students some otherwise empty seats either.

Maybe this is all wishful thinking on my part, but once in a while, it would make my day to see Marian Gaborik hit top shelf.

The author is a Columbia College first-year.