Recently, The Southwestern posted an article expressing student frustration over the handling of intramural flag football signups. Since then, various responses to the article have come in. One comment was left on the story page:
“I went to a different university…another division 2 school…and intramurals were some of the best memories I had in college. It was very fun and competitive. Many nights there could be hundreds of people at a game. It was a huge culture boost. As someone who wants to see SWOSU continue to succeed and grow…I would love to see SWOSU intramurals have a bit of a reboot or reworking in the coming months or year.” A reader named Kelly said.
Taking into account all the responses to the story, and in the service of good journalism and storytelling from all sides, I reached out to Susan Ellis, wellness center director. Hearing about their side of the story was fair for everyone involved. Ellis explained she has been with SWOSU intramurals for six years, and has helped oversee Robert Nikkel, coordinator of activities, put on many different sports in years past.
“We do flag football, coed volleyball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, pickleball, soccer or futsal, coed softball, Spikeball. We do add other sports if we have interest,” Ellis said.
The wellness center began the year with intramural flag football, as they have done in the past.
“Sign-ups opened on August 25 through September 5, through two full weeks. We had very few teams sign up, so we extended it a week,” Ellis said.
Contrary to regular visiting students’ claims, as seen in the last article, Ellis says posters detailing signups had been posted in the wellness center the entire time. Even going as far as to say she wasn’t sure what they saw (or didn’t see).
“I don’t know what they were looking at. We put a sign, more than one, at the front desk, right where they scan that says intramural sign-ups August 25 through September 12, and it tells you exactly what to do, where to go. If you have any questions, there’s always a name and a phone number.”
Outside of the wellness center, intramural signup dates are posted on the Dawg Days calendar, a semester-long event sheet. Ellis said they do not send out emails to any individuals, but she said the calendar was emailed to students.
“We do not send out emails to individuals saying, ‘by the way, sign-ups are open’ because I have no idea who wants to sign up. We do post signs. We have it on the Dawg Days calendar; every single intramural sign-up is on the Dawg Days Calendar, and every student gets a copy of that on email, too.”
I could not find the Dawg Days calendar anywhere in my email after a thorough search, but it is hung up in many places across campus. As far as accommodations for those who could not originally sign up, both Phi Delt and TKE (quoted in the original story) were allowed to join. Beyond that, signups were reopened, with no extra teams joining.
“We put posters up yesterday morning, and we left it up all day yesterday (Tuesday, September 23rd). We did not have one person [sign up]. Not one person. We made the announcements. We post flyers around. We put it all up. And again, we’ve never had an issue before.”
These posters were placed up sometime between 6:00 and 9:00 am, and taken down at 1:00 pm, meaning they were up for 4-7 hours.
Signups were put up sometime on Tuesday morning and went until 1 pm on Tuesday. Posters are kept in-house (wellness center) only for intramurals. Overall, Ellis reiterated it is in large part the students’ job to seek out the information, especially those who have played in years past.
“I know some of the ones that were concerned and that were quoted in the article and said ‘we didn’t hear,’ but I mean, they played every year,” Ellis said. “A lot of them are seniors, and it’s like, you know that we’re now into the end of September. Why are you not saying, ‘Hey, by the way, why have I not seen something?’”
Ellis wanted to point out overall that she and the wellness center are there for students. They want to accommodate students, but it can be hard without proper communication from the students.
“We’re here for the students, and I want everybody to know that,” Ellis said. “We listen to students, we try to accommodate students in every way. That’s what this wellness is for. Students we want to support, but they have to correspond with us. They have to talk to us, to tell us what’s going on as well.”
The season began on Thursday with four teams. Games take place every Thursday at 7 pm at Milam Stadium, and will take place for the next four weeks, aside from October 16th (fall break).
In the future, The Southwestern will look to keep students updated on signup windows. For all students, organizations, departments, and community members, we wanted to reiterate from the first article that announcements can be sent to The Southwestern, and we will post them pending editor approval.
