For five consecutive years, the Roller Hockey Club at Stony Brook University made it to the national championship. Despite being qualified for a sixth time this year, the team will not be playing at the tournament because the players could not afford to fly to Utah, where the event will be held in April.
Roller Hockey Treasurer Harrison Last went to the Undergraduate Student Government Senate meeting on Thursday, March 22, to announce his team’s withdrawal from the national championship after the senate failed to vote on a revision to amend current Financial Bylaws flight restrictions.
The National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association, or NCRHA was “very upset” at the decision, according to Last, and the team has been fined $795. He also said that other fines and sanctions could be announced soon and the team could even be suspended for a year.
USG started imposing flight restriction when it revised its financial bylaws last summer. In the past, USG has paid for the Roller Hockey club to fly to Wisconsin and Illinois to compete in the national tournament. The team won the championship in the 2006-2007 season.
A revision to allow USG to fund flights was discussed at the March 15 meeting, but the senate could not reach a consensus before the end of the meeting. Days later, the club told NCRHA it was forfeiting the bid to the tournament because the players could not afford to pay $5,200 to fly to Salt Lake City, where the games will take place between April 11 and 16.
USG President Mark Maloof, who has pushed to end the restrictions, was upset at the situation. He said the USG could have done more to support what is now “one of the top roller hockey teams in the country.”
“Disappointed doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel,” he said. “I wish there was a way to fix it.”
USG Senator David Adams recently said he doesn’t think USG should be paying for expensive “hobbies.”
“Limiting is a reality,” he said. “If a hobby is more expensive, I am not saying that we don’t give them any money, but we have to be more realistic and work within our budget.”
Although the revision was on the agenda last week, the senate decided to table it until the next meeting – this Thursday – so more urgent business could be taken care of.
Last said he’s disappointed with the system, not with the senators.