Miami University is a very special place. A lot has changed since classes began two centuries ago, but some things have remained constant: our commitment to educational quality and the beauty of our campus.
These have been shared by generations of faculty, students, parents and alums alike. A third century pushes us to adapt and innovate, but moving forward we must carefully safeguard our core values or risk losing sight of who we are.
I therefore write – as an educator with two decades of experience at Miami, teaching geography and urban planning – to express profound concern about the proposal to build a new arena and corporate hotel on Cook Field, especially amidst a budget crisis.
Like many, I was surprised by the sudden rush to build projects with such unprecedented financial and campus impacts. But the more I’ve thought about it, I’ve grown increasingly worried about even greater and more fundamental risks.
Let me say at the outset, I support updating our athletic facilities and expanding campus amenities. Millett Hall needs to be renovated or replaced. Our athletic folks, including our talented basketball and volleyball teams, deserve high-quality spaces. An additional hotel would serve parents and visitors. Such investments could – in theory – bring economic development.
But these projects have costs, bigger than most realize.
Most obvious is the loss of Cook Field, an open space central to campus life. Don’t take it from me. Thousands in surveys and petitions have expressed their outrage about losing Cook Field and what it would mean to our campus, our heritage and intramural sports/student experience. These voices matter and should not be ignored.
But the arena itself will also be very costly: in excess of $200 million (estimated before tariffs drove up construction costs). This is probably the biggest capital project in Miami’s history.
Generous donors will help, but the administration is still looking to borrow $100 to $200 million. Paying down this debt will cost $6 to $13 million annually. This is a lot of money, even in good times. But amid tight budgets and uncertainty – in higher education and beyond – is this the right time for such a huge financial gamble?
There are also opportunity costs (i.e., the loss of potential gain from other alternatives). Let’s start with fundraising. Every dollar raised for the arena could have gone to something else. Some donors are athletic boosters, but others are passionate about academics and student life. To focus fundraising on an arena will divert resources from scholarships and other investments that directly support students and faculty. Since any debt must be paid off from operating revenues (e.g., tuition), this will necessarily come at the expense of the classroom, exacerbating Miami’s deepening budget cuts to academics. Imagine what $6 to $13 million a year could buy in terms of scholarships, innovative programs or non-athletic facilities.
These are worrisome enough, but might the arena cost us in even deeper ways? Miami’s known for its red bricks, yet is built of people, relationships and trust. These, I hate to say, are already deeply strained.
Faculty, our numbers reduced by attrition and many of our programs on the chopping block, are being asked to teach more sections to greater enrollments (after years without raises). It’s harder and harder for us to deliver educational quality and make time for students. We’ve understood that tight budgets require sacrifice, but the shocking proposal to spend $200 million on an arena betrays confidence in Miami’s leadership. Staff, I suspect, may have similar feelings.
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Students experience this erosion of educational quality firsthand in the form of larger classes, less writing/more multiple choice and less attention from faculty. And now Miami wants to build on one of their cherished recreational spaces, for a sport that relatively few attend, upon the recommendation of a committee they were excluded from.
What a bitter lesson in disempowerment! Though I’m not a Miami alum, I’m a parent of one. I believe most parents and alums are loyally bound to Miami for the same reasons as students and faculty, so they may feel similarly dismayed.
Miami’s commitment to education and our campus, safeguarded for centuries, make us who we are. These are core to our brand and why people choose Miami over other schools. But they can be broken, sometimes more quickly than they can be repaired.
Maybe the potential benefits are worth these costs. Yet, because Miami has not conducted any market research or cost-benefit analysis – the kind any department must do before launching a new curriculum – we can’t know with any confidence and are asked to trust in President Gregory Crawford’s instinct. Maybe he’s right, and Miami can be transformed into a sports school. Or maybe there’s something to the overwhelming skepticism from all corners of the Miami community that this is not the right direction for us right now, that the costs are just too high.
It’s not too late for us to pause and think more carefully about whether an “Arena District” is worth sacrificing Cook Field and the risks to our core mission and brand. There are more creative, inclusive and fiscally responsible ways to approach our challenges, which can unite and not divide us, while preserving what makes us special. But that will take raising our voices, especially those of donors whose generosity so shapes our university. If you share my concern for Miami’s future, now’s the time to be heard. Together, we can still save Cook Field and Miami from making a potentially historic mistake and losing its way. But it’s now or never.
David Prytherch
Professor of Geography
David Prytherch is Professor of Geography at Miami University. He has played an active role in planning and sustainability efforts on and off campus. He is the proud parent of a 2024 Miami graduate.
At The Student, we are committed to engaging with our audience and listening to feedback. This includes publishing a diverse array of guest editorials. For more information on guidelines and processes, email Taylor Powers, The Student's opinion editor, at powerstj@miamioh.edu.
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