Student Government’s athletic commission held an open forum last night, giving students an opportunity to discuss and offer feedback about the student ticketing system has frustrated students during the beginning of the football season.   

Jeffrey Johnson, the SG chairman of athletics, said student feedback is important as the commission goes forward to re-evaluate the system.   

“[Athletics] is an important part of student life and I want students to feel that they have an hands-on approach to ticketing,” Johnson said.    

The open forum was held six weeks after the season opening South Carolina football game that left many students without tickets.      

Associate Athletic Director Dick Christy released a statement Oct. 5 addressing common queries students had regarding the ticketing system, from concerns over point distribution to failed e-mail notifications about ticket claims.   

Christy said more than 13,000 students requested tickets for approximately 8,000 seats.   

“No matter how they are distributed there is going to be a large contingent of students who are frustrated that they were not awarded a seat,” Christy said.   

A major topic discussed at the forum was the way the ticket distribution system operated.   

Though the system gives seniors higher probability to win tickets, many students felt it was unacceptable that some freshman could receive tickets over upperclassmen.   

Data from the South Carolina game showed freshman requested significantly more tickets than the sophomore and junior classes.  Christy said the only class to beat freshman were seniors and graduate students, which are combined. Christy said this was one of the primary reasons why freshman received a higher amount of tickets.   

“It is a hybrid of seniority and loyalty.  If you were a senior for the South Carolina game, you had more chance in the lottery –but that didn’t mean you were going to get picked– just more chance.”

However, Christy did acknowledge that more effectively informing the study body about the system could have lessened student confusion and outrage.   

“A lot of the feedback we got back were students didn’t really understand how loyalty points worked,” Christy said.   

Concerns over the e-mail notifications –which failed to notify students about ticket claim periods– were also addressed.  According to Christy, Athletics is working with the Office of Information Technology to get the problem –which may lie in the filtering process– fixed.

 Trisha Gooding, a junior in zoology and psychology, said the new system has actually been beneficial for her.  

“I’ve had better seats this year than the whole time I’ve been here,” Gooding said.  

The forum also cleared up some misconceptions about the system and the way it was being handled.

“I realized that nothing is perfect, but now I am confident that they are making changes in the best interests of the students,” Gooding said.

In comparison to other schools in the Atlantic Coastal Conference, Jim Ceresnak, the student body president, said the University’s student ticketing system is more convenient and student-oriented than others.

“We really and truly have one of the best student ticketing systems in the ACC. Our system rewards the most loyal students.  Our system has reduced wait times to get into games.  Our system has really allowed students to have a real enjoyable experience at the games,” Ceresnak said.   

Ceresnak said SG will continue to work to make the ticketing process more efficient.   

“We have experienced problems –most notably the ticket notification emails–and we are working every week to make that better” Ceresnak said.  “Overall, it has been a successful year, and we will continue to try to work these things out.”