President Marx has challenged Amherst's student body to not take our privileges for granted and to fulfill our obligations to the local, national and global communities through service. I applaud President Marx for his intentions, but both his goals and purpose cited in his inaugural address are rarely realized on a collegiate or national government level. However, while the President of the United States is responsible for the failure to achieve his promises, it is the student body that is failing to fulfill the obligation central to Marx's platform.

What is preventing the Amherst student body from doing community service? The answer is complex, but I believe it is intricately connected with the sports culture that consumes Amherst. A massive percentage of the student body participates in varsity athletics, and a large majority of the remaining students participate in club sports and/or intramurals. However, the solitary fact that Amherst students are athletic is not the problem (God forbid Amherst students are healthier than the average American!); rather it is the institutionalization of sports and sports culture from top down that reinforces and immortalizes the importance of sports at the expense of other extracurricular activities on campus, including, but not limited to, publications, arts clubs, cultural clubs and service organizations.

The most potent influence that Amherst College has on the extracurricular endeavors of the students is its methods of allocating money and resources to the activities of the student body. The athletic department funds the 27 varsity sports that Amherst College offers, but is legally prohibited from funding non-varsity sports by regulations set by multi-collegiate governing bodies-a step higher in the institutional bureaucracy. Thus, club sports must be funded through other means, such as the AAS.

The AAS Budgetary Committee (BC) is initially allocating approximately $141,000 to Amherst College clubs for the spring semester. Without other means of funding club sports, even the bare minimum allocations for club sports' operating costs greatly detract from the funding of all the other diverse extracurriculars at Amherst. Funding requests for renowned speakers, artists and service events are routinely rejected while Amherst club sports teams are almost always allotted enough funding to compete in all of their tournaments/meets/games. Only two club teams, both the men's and women's ultimate frisbee teams, contested their budgets at the Nov. 18 BC meeting (the only time clubs could contest initial budget allocations for the spring). On the other hand, The Hamster only got enough funding for one more issue.

I don't want to harp at length on the usual suspects that are hoarding all the money. However, I think it's important to bring the financial facts of the ski team to the Amherst student body's attention. The BC has initially allotted nearly $20,000 for the upcoming spring semester, representing a good portion of each Amherst student's activity fee of $187. My primary concerns about funding the ski team are not about its expensiveness, but rather its accessibility to the student body. In order to be part of the team, all members must have their own racing equipment and pay a $300 due, meaning it costs anywhere between $1,000-$2,000 to be on the team. A large percentage of the student body cannot even afford to participate on the ski team, yet the AAS is spending a great deal of money on it at the expense of many other clubs.

I am not opposed to the existence of the ski team, nor the existence of any other club sport. However, the current methods of funding the teams enhance the sports-centered drinking culture of Amherst mainstream social life by detracting from alternative social, cultural, artistic and charitable outlets and events.

How can we change the club sports funding process? The AAS currently has a committee designed to discuss this problem. As I am writing this, I can almost hear the groans and see other people's eyes rolling. Yes, people continually complain about the ineffectiveness and uselessness of the AAS. Perhaps they are right. But in order for a democracy to be successful it requires the active participation and input of its constituents. That means all students at the college. The fact is that the AAS allocates the school's money, and we can't do anything unless we work with the system.

Changing the source of club sports funding will be challenging. In the meantime, it will be difficult to rise to President Marx's challenge. In a community whose members seem to differentially value sports, which by nature are self-absorbing commitments, it will be very difficult to expand the school's service and outreach programs. And without money and thereby influence, many students will probably remain ignorant or apathetic to the obligations and rewards of reaching out to the local, national and global communities.