Boathouse Woes

As Joey Cranney reports in “Boathouse Woes” on p. 1, the university is currently in the process of negotiating with the city to acquire land to build a new boathouse for the men’s crew and women’s rowing teams. The Temple News thinks this is a long-overdue and well-deserved resource for the crew and rowing teams, which have been able to compete at a high level, despite having to store their equipment in tents because their original boathouse was condemned in 2008.

The looming construction of the boathouse, like the expansion of the football team’s Edberg-Olson practice facility and new scoreboard in the Liacouras Center, are welcome signs that the university is reaping the benefits of entering the Big East Conference. The Temple News cannot stress enough how much of a win the move is for the university.

While women’s rowing and not men’s crew is entering the Big East, both would stand to benefit from the proposed boathouse.

No Division-I program, let alone a Big East program, should let one of its teams work in the conditions that the women’s rowing team has faced for the past few years. While rowing may not always headline our Sports section the way football or men’s basketball does, those student athletes should be valued just as much as athletes in the revenue sports. Every student athlete should have access to top-flight facilities at a place like Temple, and thankfully, the university is showing signs it is moving toward that goal.