Just to jump in -- not that I am necessarily a big fan of decisions
that have been made about tickets.
        But, an important point needs to be made about "special friends" --
all fans of UMaine athletics are special -- period.
        Most important is the fact that more than 50% of the money needed to
support UMaine athletics must be raised from private donors.  Yes,
ticket sales, merchandise and the like all help to support, but we have
humongous travel budgets because of our location, heavier equipment
needs because of weather ...  All of this means that, compared to our
other Division I friends in New England, we just don't have the money
and donors are mandatory if we are to keep all these programs going.
Compliance with Title IX has cost us a small fortune as well.
        So, the occasional time when something "above and beyond" can be done
for major donors doesn't come along often and it is not difficult to
understand why the development people want to do so at a time like this.
        In the best of all worlds, we would have a budget adequate to support
the needs of our students and the vagaries of government interventions.
 We just don't.  And, we need to be grateful that donors are there
helping to pay the everyday bills.
Nonni Daly