SLATE: Student fees for Kansas State athletics will be eliminated a year early

Very, very little news for a Saturday morning, so we’re kinda late here. Today is mostly a calendar post, but there is one big piece of news...

There are currently only seven public universities in the entire nation whose athletic departments are self-sufficient — that is, receiving no direct or indirect funding from the university itself, from the state, or from the students via fees. We already knew K-State was on track to become the eighth, but that was expected to occur for the 2019-20 academic year.

Surprise. K-State announced yesterday that the student fees would be eliminated, basically, right now. The student senate approved a 2018-19 budget providing exactly zero dollars to the athletic department, eliminating the student privilege fee. Students provided $350,000 in support to the department in fiscal 2017-18, and were expected to provide $200,000 next year; there’s no need now.

Meanwhile, Kellis Robinett at the Eagle reflects on the first year of Gene Taylor’s tenure in Manhattan.

Baseball is in action at Tointon today against Oklahoma State, as noted yesterday.

Track and Field

In his first meet as a Wildcat, freshman Aaron Booth captured the decathlon title at the Jim Click Shootout in Tucson. On the women’s side, Lauren Taubert and Ariel Okorie finished four-five in the heptathlon.

Tennis

After dropping the first point, the 35th-ranked Wildcats (13-5, 3-2 Big 12) got on the ball and rolled over West Virginia (7-8, 1-3 Big 12) 4-1 yesterday. That improves K-State’s record over the Mountaineers to 9-0 all-time. Tomorrow, they’ll be in Ames looking for their ninth victory in 12 matches.

Rowing

Today is the Big 12 Double Dual at Wyandotte County Lake in Kansas City, Kansas. K-State takes on Big 12 foes Alabama and Tennessee.