Students rally to cut ties with UK Athletics and coal
September 4, 2012
By Nini Edwards
UK Beyond Coal is rallying Wednesday at noon asking UK Athletics to stop associating with the coal industry.
Many donations have been given to athletics from coal operatives. Recently, the UK men’s basketball team’s new dorm was named the Wildcat Coal Lodge after its contributors’ industry.
“I think it is just another sponsorship,” Kelsey Potter, an English freshman, said. “I don’t think there is a correlation between coal and athletics, but if athletics need money and that is a sponsor for them then I don’t see any problem.”
Students have different views on the issue.
“It is good that they are working with local industries in Kentucky,” said chemistry freshman Cameron Day.
UK Beyond Coal started in January 2010 with hopes to make UK a coal-free establishment.
“We should stop supporting the coal industry,” Nasrin Bartetzko, a sociology freshman, said. “We should support renewable energy.”
Joe Craft, head of Alliance Coal Resource Partners and a UK graduate, donated $7 million toward the lodge for men’s basketball players.
“If you cut it out completely you would be taking out a lot of jobs and people who have made their living working with coal,” Potter said.
Students can get involved with the campaign by attending weekly meetings at 8:30 p.m. on the first floor in the Student Center.