To the Editor:

With three and a half years of life at Vanderbilt under my belt, I can say Vanderbilt has put me through some very frustrating experiences. Waking up to drilling outside of Memorial every morning of my sophomore year, thinking the Class of 2009 would never live off-campus and the fact that courses satisfying AXLE requirements change every semester have all been reasons I have questioned my decision to attend this school. The most frustrating moment of my entire life at Vanderbilt, however, may have been just 10 minutes ago, when I found out that ESPN and our administration had collaborated to select the Commons as the site for ESPN's College GameDay program. Not only is it a disservice to the three-fourths of the student body who live nowhere near the Commons, but also to the hordes of alumni and other fans who choose to tailgate in a sensible location: near the stadium. Olin Lawn, the area between the SLC and the Ingram Studio Arts Center, a section of the parking lots closest to the stadium, or maybe even the baseball field would have all made perfect sense to me. The Commons, well the only worse location I can imagine might be Wilson 103.

Growing up in a family that has owned basketball season tickets since 1986 and football season tickets for most of the ǃÚ90s, I could not be more proud of our athletics program right now. It pains me to realize our administration has chosen to exploit the hard work of our undefeated football team by steering GameDay literally as far away as possible from the stadium in which our team plays, only to showcase what the administration believes is the greatest thing ever to happen to Vanderbilt. How about you pay for an advertisement for the Commons during the game and hold GameDay in a sensible location?

Is it too late? Does anyone have Lee Corso's number? This simply cannot go on. Imagine Jimi Hendrix playing in a Branscomb music practice room, the Celtics shooting around on the outdoor court at the Rec, Usain Bolt warming up on the indoor track or holding the presidential debate in a frat house. I equate all of these horrible mental images with what is about to happen on Saturday, and I know there is someone, somewhere, who can do something to fix it and let GameDay represent our football program in a respectable manner.

Taylor Gould
Senior
College of Arts and Science