Dear Editor,
I’ve been a student at App State since 2019, and I don’t know if that lends credence to my point, but I wanted to point out some things that are happening to the city and the school that I love so much. I will say this over and over and die on the sword that App State and Boone have reached a climax in their relationship and that is this year. If they don’t address this point, they compromise not only the well-being of the city, but also the well-being of the university. Simply put, App State is too big for its pants. We have far too many students for our campus size and available facilities. Let me give you some examples. The university obviously recognizes the increase in the size of our student body with various changes they have implemented this year.
Starting with the new swipe-based meal plan, there have been countless complaints about the lack of options, long queues, and food quality. App State changed the meal plan, but made no changes to the options and locations available. We’ve actually lost dining options since this plan changed, including McAlister’s, which was a very popular spot for many students. The scanning system also limits students who have special dietary needs, such as diabetes and specific allergies. Students who only have 30 minutes to grab food between classes have to line up, stretch to Varsity Gym, just to get in. That was the first indicator for me that we were getting too big.
Second, let’s talk about our football team, the success of which is a huge factor in our growth as a university. I would like to preface by saying that I am a huge football fan. I was also drawn here partly because of the football program. When I started here in 2019, students had guaranteed access to all football matches. No Yosef student club membership. No lottery. Not even a ticket claim website. Just swipe your AppCard and you’re there. In 2020, due to COVID-19 and limited capacity, they switched to a limited entry system running on a lottery, which I really loved. Finally in 2021 they moved to a ticket claim system, which is what we have now. With the recent success of App State and the massive influx of students, we are experiencing high demand for entry into games, where we cannot even guarantee student entry. Kidd Brewer Stadium has a capacity of 30,000, but UNC’s recent game broke that record with a total attendance of 40,168 fans. If that’s not enough of a number for our growth, then I don’t know what is. Boone was shut down as 40,000 people flocked to watch App State vs UNC. The 2020 census marked Boone at a total population of approximately 20,000.
With App State’s recent win over Texas A&M, which was ranked sixth in the nation, we got our biggest win since our 2007 victory over Michigan, but it resulted in chaos. King Street was jostled, various points on campus were vandalized, the Duck Pond became a community pool, and an art installation in that same pond was destroyed by fans. I love the sport more than anyone, and the magnitude of winning constantly shows, even College GameDay is coming to Boone, or has already come depending on when this is posted, but it also shows a lot of disrespect to our city, university and locals. It comes a week after Wey Hall was broken into and vandalized after the UNC game. There is an ongoing civil war between the arts and sports, and sports will never lose. The arts are a hugely underfunded, undervalued and underappreciated community while the latter is not. App State Football has completed construction of a $50 million end zone facility and was awarded $1.5 million just to play Texas A&M. Boone’s artistic community is struggling to raise funds for support, and animosity between the two has reached an all-time high. The most disheartening part about this is that there is no remorse from fans for the destruction of these statues. Comments end up being “The baby was ugly”, “You obviously aren’t sports fans”, “That was a huge win”, or my favorite “Sh– happens”. There is no justification for these actions, but fans and students alike blow it away. Although this took me away from my original argument, it is important to talk about it because these actions will only continue as the university continues to grow. These rowdy fans are setting a dangerous precedent that has brought a lot of attention to App State, via Instagram posts from ESPN, Barstool and other national outlets, and will bring many more students to App State.
Finally, there is an issue that has not been consistently addressed for years and that is the local student housing market. There are not enough affordable student life options off campus and as our student population grows, those on campus will not exist either. It’s obviously a much harder fix to fix quickly, but it’s a big factor in the argument that App State may have to consider cutting growth and remaining stagnant as the city around it catches up. A lack of affordable housing is complemented by a lack of affordable school and community parking. There just aren’t enough parking spaces in Boone for all the students we bring. The community’s response to this was AppalCart, a free transportation system. But most of the time the buses are packed and inconsistent, providing unreliable transportation to and from campus. Additionally, students forced to live off-campus may not live near AppalCart stops, requiring them to find an alternate mode of transportation.
All of that being said, I think we’ve reached a climax in Boone’s relationship with App State. App State must either pause their enrollment to allow the university, city and community to adjust or take Boone back completely. The two do not and simply will not coexist. We are not a Columbia, a Chapel Hill or a Charlotte. We are Boone, a town that doubles its population when students come to campus. App State’s response to their growing signup is to tear down buildings and build new ones on top of them. I hate to tell you App State, you’re running out of space. So what will you do? Develop further in Boone? Cut your registration? Or continue your reckless behavior that is destroying the High Country we know and love?
Sincerely,
A worried student.
