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Growing up in a university town, my father and I bonded over season after season of college football. When it came time for me to choose my own alma mater, the tradition of those fall weekends remained sacrosanct, and just the opportunity to be a fan of Aggies made my decision an easy one. In a very real way the football program brought me to UC Davis, certainly not as a scholarship athlete or a walk-on, but as a fan.

When the Aggies take the field this fall they’ll do so in a new stadium and when the team runs through the tunnel to the tune of Aggie Fight and the roar of the crowd, the story of the day deserves to be about more than construction delays, the lack of a corporate sponsor and a switch to athlete-friendly monofilament turf. The story must be about our students.

The stadium, in no insignificant way, is a jewel in the crown of the UC Davis student experience - a pure embodiment of Aggie Pride. In 1999 students conceptualized, debated, and voted in favor of the Facilities and Campus Enhancements (FACE) initiative, providing new student funds for the Schaal Aquatics Center, the Activities and Recreation Center, the stadium and other campus improvements. UC Davis student leaders have a long history of promoting such visionary campus improvement, as earlier generations of students led the way on fee referendums that helped construct the Memorial Union, Silo and Recreation Hall.

But as student leaders graduate and become less and less involved with the University, other institutional pressures can begin to chip away at the legacy they worked so hard to ensure. When conceptualized, student use of the Activities and Recreation Center was to be entirely covered by the FACE initiative’s increase in registration fees, however students who want to participate in exercise classes or maintain a locker must now pay additional fees. A student wanting to enjoy the original vision of the facility - unlimited access to ARC’s equipment and programmatic offerings – must purchase the “Fitness Intensive Pass” for an additional $45.00 per quarter.

The stadium’s debut will mark the completion of the FACE initiative’s major projects, and because of this it serves as the perfect opportunity for our Aggie family to review how well we’ve implemented the original vision of those student leaders that helped create it. It also serves as an excellent opportunity to increase our efforts at making sure the student component of the FACE legacy is preserved and shared in a meaningful way with future student leaders.

University administrators, now the primary stewards of FACE funding, owe current students an open and publicized accounting of ARC fees, as well as a publicized accounting of why design and construction delays have led to the stadium opening a year behind schedule. If cost projections contained in FACE simply did not meet the real construction and operational costs of its facilities, then how does the University plan to ensure the next student led expansion initiative avoid similar miscalculation and oversight? Are such lessons being shared with our peer institutions?

Almost as much as the game of college football itself, the coach’s pre-game pep talk is a mythical opportunity in American folklore. In “Farm vs. Farm”, the documentary short on the historic UC Davis upset of Stanford, Bob Biggs tells his players that Aggie football is about pride and playing for each other, and that this team in particular is fortunate because they get the opportunity to play the game so many of their predecessors dreamed about. The stadium opening, however, merits a pep talk that motivates beyond the tradition of those that once wore the uniform.

This fall, and frankly every fall thereafter, the students deserve center stage – the students that time and time again have supported their athletic peers with referendums to fund a vibrant and proud athletic tradition. The same students that will pay over time two-thirds of the cost of the new home of Aggie football, some $21,000,000 of the now $30,885,000 budget. This is the base of Aggie Pride.

One day a corporate sponsor may come along and buy naming rights to the stadium, and that donation should be duly recognized and appreciated, but let it never be forgotten who truly funded this long awaited home of Aggie football and its sister campus enhancements. Let those of us – alumni and administrators – entrusted with its stewardship never sell short the legacy of the UC Davis student experience and the extraordinary progress UC Davis students have contributed to our campus community.