Amazingly, this is the fourth straight year I’ve written a column in February about UBC’s choice on whether to join NCAA Division II for athletics, or stay in Canada. Which tells you two things: one, UBC has dragged this decision out longer than the consummation of a romance in a bad sitcom, and two, I need to graduate.

But the average student cares about the NCAA issue exactly as much as they care about athletics at UBC generally—which is to say, none, and it’s a shame. Where we decide to go, whether to stay with the CIS or move on to bigger and better things will determine more than who we play on Friday nights. It’ll say a lot about UBC, where we fit in Canada and what our values are.

For starters, there’s the ideological issue: should UBC give full-ride scholarships to people whose greatest skill is being able to put a ball/puck into a hoop/net? Right now, they, and every other university not named SFU can’t. Athletic scholarships can only cover tuition and mandatory fees, and you have to maintain at least a 70 per cent average throughout your degree.

UBC Athletics has long argued that they need larger scholarships to get the best Canadian student-athletes to UBC and while a move to Division II wouldn’t get them the next Steve Nash, it could keep a couple dozen extra athletes here each year. Is the moral trade-off worth it?

Next, there’s the question of what exactly we would get from the NCAA. UBC wants to make sure people get fanciful visions of the Rose Bowl, packed stadiums and giant TV deals out of their heads, because while Division II would allow UBC to play in the elite leagues in one sport—which would be hockey—for everything else, we would play against the Dixie State College and Central Washington Universities of the world. The competition would be greater, but it would do little to change the dynamic between students and their sports teams.

Finally, there’s the fact that going to the NCAA requires us to leave the CIS, an increasingly loveless marriage UBC has been in for decades. Like any organization that has to accommodate the needs and wishes of such a diverse group of members, it moves at a pace a snail would find slow. UBC is fairly certain at this point that the things they want—scholarship flexibility and tiered conferencing for better competition—won’t be happening anytime soon. The T-Birds will be stuck playing inferior teams from Thompson Rivers and Fraser Valley a few times each year for some time to come, and if we stay in the CIS, we’ll have to accept that.

However you stand, one thing is for sure—UBC wants you to make a decision for them in this upcoming round of consultations. They’ve been sitting on this issue for upwards of two years, trying to find solutions, but the truth is they don’t really know where the campus community stands. In 2009, with a muddled report and a lack of clarity, 52 per cent of survey respondents were against a move to the NCAA. They don’t care whether goes up or down this time, only that it does so a lot. So when it comes to whether UBC joins the NCAA or not, your voice matters a little more than usual.

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