Until reading Kate Hartig's emotive op-ed column, "Scalping Duke Tickets Takes Them From Deserving Fans," I had no idea that undergraduates had a monopoly on school spirit. As a huge Tar Heel fan and graduate student, I totally agree that scalping tickets to any Carolina basketball game is shameless. Like most students, I cannot imagine preferring fast cash to a chance at seeing the biggest game in college basketball. I strongly disagree, however, with Ms. Hartig's implicit assumption that all graduate students are heartless, money-hungry, ticket "scalper strangers" who should never deserve "Dook" tickets.
While we graduate students may have missed out on the truly undergraduate experience of flipping cars on Franklin Street, do not doubt the greatness of Carolina basketball! Anyone attending school here, even for a little while (and some graduate students may be here for seven or eight years!), can't help but fall in love with the excitement and tradition surrounding the awesome basketball program at Carolina. I assure you that most of those graduate students not interested in basketball are way too busy to bother with 6 a.m. ticket distributions. Hang in there Kate, when you're a senior you'll get "Dook" tickets too!
Andrea Jones
Graduate Student
Ecology
