Congress could cut number of CAA tix

The proposed number of tickets allotted to the Carolina Athletic Association for men’s basketball was almost slashed in half Sunday night.

The Rules and Judiciary Committee of Student Congress passed favorably an amendment to the Student Code that would allot CAA 50 tickets. The full Congress will vote on the bill Tuesday.

CAA hoped Congress would limit the number of tickets to 90.

While the Code now states that CAA should receive no more than 40 tickets, the association received 138 last year — a loophole that spurred much controversy.

“It’s a large number of tickets,” Speaker Luke Farley said. “My constituents, the student body, just wouldn’t have agreed with it.”

CAA’s proposal recommended that the association receive 90 lower-level seats to compensate for members not being able to participate in the ticket lottery because of work during ticket distributions.

CAA officials said that the request was a compromise and that the reduction could interfere with their abilities to run a successful distribution.

“They feel that 90 is too many, but it’s hard when you don’t know the inner workings of an organization,” said Lindsay Strunk, former CAA president.

It takes about 45 people to make a distribution run effectively, Strunk said, and doing away with an incentive to receive two tickets will interfere with the process.

“It’s really hard to ask someone to get up at 5 a.m. when you aren’t going to give them two tickets,” she said. “It jeopardizes their chances.”

Members of CAA are prohibited from entering the ticket lottery because of a conflict of interest. In the past, they were given two tickets for each game because they didn’t have the opportunity to win tickets through the lottery.

CAA President Justin Johnson said that he anticipated having trouble recruiting people to work the distributions because of the setback but that he is going to remain optimistic about the situation.

“I think it will affect us because a lot of people will be disgruntled,” Johnson said. “But because people care so much about athletics here, I think they’ll still be willing to do it.”

CAA has come under fire throughout this school year for the number of tickets the organization reserved for its members’ use.

Rep. Domenick Grasso, who now leads Congress’ Rules and Judiciary Committee, filed a suit in the Student Supreme Court against CAA maintaining that the group violated the Student Code by reserving too many basketball tickets.

The court dismissed the suit on technical grounds.

But Farley said he doesn’t anticipate having a problem with the CAA in the upcoming year.

“I think the leaders of the CAA will adhere to the laws this year,” Farley said. “They were given 40 (tickets) last year, and they took 138,” said Farley. “This year they were given 50, and they are going to get 50.”

Farley said Student Congress plans to monitor the CAA’s ticket distribution by keeping lines of communication open and by possibly making CAA provide reports to about the amount of tickets it receives.

“It’s important to make them aware that we are paying attention,” Farley said.

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.