Recently, Blackburn College generated attention with the announcement that it would be installing solar panels on campus. These panels will cut down on costs, allow the school to reduce its carbon footprint and give students across majors insight into the ways in which energy can be generated. What was lost in the buzz, however, was news of what the panels were costing the Athletics department.
In fact, it seems as though the school itself gave very little thought to the athletics department in the first place. Upon hearing the announcement that the panels would be built atop the practice soccer field the women’s soccer coach, Coach Sohaila Akhavein, reacted with confusion. She hadn’t been informed that the field, primarily used by the girl’s soccer team, would be used. The panels would take up a large enough portion of the field to make it essentially unusable. And among student athletes, the reactions varied even further: they were frustrated or even angry.
“I think the solar panels are a great idea, and I’m really glad we’re going through with it. It’s a great resource for the school, and a great way for students to learn,” Akhavein emphasized. “But…we need that field for practice. In recruiting, being able to say we have two practice fields is a big deal.” She said that incoming freshmen who were recruited to be part of the soccer team were feeling frustrated by the change. Recruitment isn’t the only reason the fields matter, though. “Scheduling around people’s classes and their work means that we’ve got less leeway than schools without a work program. Our practices often take place at the same time the men’s team does because that’s a scheduling reality. If we don’t have two fields, it’s not going to be possible.”
According to Akhavein, students involved in athletics, and especially the women’s soccer team, were upset about the announcement and the changes it would require of campus. Akhavein said, “We talk about retention and how important that is, and I think that this is going to prove a big problem for retention, too.”
Akhavein was not consulted before the decision was made, nor did officials offer any alternatives for the field that the panels would be taking over. Athletics is one of the biggest recruitment tools which Blackburn has and is important to the culture here on campus, Akhavein said. “It feels like the school…isn’t giving the Athletics department a fair shake,” she said. “Athletics are important, but right now it doesn’t feel like the school is treating it like they are.”
The women’s soccer team would be the most impacted, but others sports teams, like golf, also use that space and would be severely hampered in their ability to practice without it.
“Frankly,” Sohaila said, “I don’t know what we’re going to do. I don’t think we can make it work without two practice fields.”