Brendan Grudberg ’28
Proud HC NIL Donor
Around a month ago, Holy Cross students received a significant email from President Rougeau, announcing that tuition would be taking a 5.6% hike for the next academic year. The school’s announcement understandably ruffled a few feathers, as tuition prices significantly affect students’ current and future financial outlook, but Rougeau gave a sympathetic explanation to ensure students that their increased tuition rates would be fully invested into making the school the best it can be. Citing reasons such as maintaining a “high quality education” and “sustaining world class faculty”, Rougeau’s email left students and their families feeling a little better about their soon-to-be emptied pockets. Even if the new financial plan caused some hardship, at least they knew it was going to the right places. That was, at least, until this past Sunday.
In a shocking turn of events, President Rougeau sent out an email to all students, titled “The Truth – A Message About Tuition Increases”. There was no text inside the email—rather, the email served as a link to a YouTube video on Holy Cross’ official channel. The video features President Rougeau and Athletic Director Kit Hughes behind a green screen displaying them at the Hart Center basketball court. The YouTube video’s main producer stated the video wasn’t filmed at the actual Hart Center because they didn’t want players overhearing the subtle jabs made by Rougeau and Hughes when referencing Holy Cross’ subpar athletic performance. “We cannot stay in the dark any longer,” Rougeau said in a sinister tone to open the video. He addressed the February email statement, saying the goals of improving residential experiences and maintaining an excellent faculty were mere cover-ups for the true reason behind the tuition increase. “To be honest, I’m surprised you guys even bought that. How would we need to improve our academics EVEN MORE? All I hear from our students are complaints about high workloads and stressful weeks. So, we’d like to announce what we’re doing about that.” Rougeau handed the floor to AD Hughes, who provided possibly an even more blunt take on the matter.
“My job is on the line,” Hughes stated. “With the age of paying college athletes upon us, I figured we’d take matters into our own hands to help us keep up.” NIL, or Name, Image, and Likeness, has been the most substantial rule change in the history of collegiate athletics, reversing the centuries-long precedent of college athletes being nothing more than amateurs. The rule allows for college athletes to get paid in exchange for things like their name, image, and likeness, hence the name, but it quickly became a loophole for paying college athletes directly through the school’s donors. “Our alumni have been lagging behind real badly donating to the NIL fund. Sure, they’re donating to the academic programs, but who here actually cares about that? My job is dependent on the success of our sports teams. Not some books,” Hughes went on to say. He then segued into expressing his desire for a significant improvement in Holy Cross’ status as a sports school.
“It’s kind of messed up the direction our school’s priorities have gone. This school thinks it’s enough to celebrate championships won when Truman was in office. And what about merchandising? Walk in the school bookstore and the only jersey you’ll find for sale is Bob Cousy’s. I can’t imagine he’s happy with where our priorities have gone.” Hughes also expressed the idea of instituting a school dress code made up of primarily Holy Cross athletic gear to manufacture interest in the school’s sports, though Rougeau wasn’t ready to co-sign that one quite yet.
“All of this is part of a reshaped focus on our athletic programs and reclaiming our title as an elite athletic school,” Rougeau followed. “The current landscape of college athletics has highlighted serious potential for us to capitalize on in terms of our tuition allocation.” He makes a fair point—BYU in Utah, a “good, not great” athletic school known for their football and basketball programs, has made waves in the college sports scene by paying huge sums of money to top recruits thanks to their NIL fund. AJ Dybantsa, the number one ranked boys’ basketball recruit in the nation, committed to BYU despite their aforementioned status as a middling team, not to mention his lack of affiliation with the Mormon church. Why? He was offered a rumored $7 million to do so. Holy Cross sees untapped potential with the frankly anarchist state of college sports right now, as schools can theoretically pay as much as they want to fast-track themselves to athletic glory.
“We know that our decision to increase tuition will increase the collective spirit on campus in the long run, something that better academic facilities or improved dorms would never be able to do,” Rougeau said in his closing remarks. Keeping up his blunt tone, Hughes followed with, “I mean, it really isn’t that much money when you think about it. When your hard-earned money is going toward a middle school football player’s contract to play here, is it even a negative for you? Luckily, that’s a rhetorical question; we’ve answered that question for you. Go Cross Go!” While the video certainly shocked everyone on the hill, only time can tell if their decisions will pay off.
Featured image courtesy of The Medium
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