BY ANDY TAYLOR
chronicle@taylornews.org
COFFEYVILLE — Declining sponsorships and ticket revenue to the Jayhawk Shootout — an annual basketball tournament at Coffeyville Community College — has prompted CCC president Don Woodburn to ask visiting teams to consider giving up financial guarantees to attend the three-day tournament.
In a written report at Monday’s CCC trustee meeting, Woodburn reported that he had asked the presidents of the 19 other colleges that attend the annual tournament to consider not receiving a financial guarantee from CCC for attending the tournament. The college presidents will consider Woodburn’s offer at a meeting in March.
Linda Moley, executive vice president, said CCC guarantees a stipend to each community college that attends the tournament as a way to defray lodging and meal costs. Schools closest to Coffeyville, such as Independence Community College and Labette County College, are paid $500 for their attendance to the shootout while schools from the farthest distances, such as Seward County and Colby community colleges, are paid upwards of $1,500.
The total financial guarantees for the 38 visiting teams (19 men’s teams and 19 women’s teams) is about $50,000, Moley said.
Sponsorships and private donations have been used for those stipends, however a decline in corporate donors has caused the college to consider abandoning those financial guarantees, Moley said.
CCC does reap ticket and advertising revenue from the three-day tournament, however those proceeds are used to pay a myriad of expenses, such as paychecks for referees, utilities, etc.
“Sometimes the shootout makes money, sometimes it doesn’t at all,” said trustee Blake Allen. “But, whenever it makes money, it’s barely enough to make ends meet. And, with declining corporate donors, the only other alternative is to use taxpayer money to fund those financial guarantees. That’s something that the trustees don’t want to do at all.”
In other business transacted at Monday’s CCC board of trustee meeting, trustees:
• recognized Bruce Miller and John Miller, both members of the groundskeeping crew, as the CCC employees of the month for February. The two men were recognized for removing snow on parking lots and sidewalks during recent winter storms.
• recognized Wilfrid Zoungrana as the Phi Theta Kappa Student of the Month for February. Zoungrana, who is from Burkina Faso in Africa, also was named the Student Government Association Student of the Month. Zoungrana is enrolled in 26 hours and will graduate from CCC in 2011 with aspirations to attend Texas A&M-Commerce to major in international business.
• learned that the new CCC physical fitness center is in operation with as many as 25 to 30 students taking advantage of the fitness equipment each night.
• learned that estimated spring 2010 enrollment should be up 5 percent overall compared to the spring 2009 semester. In-state enrollment should be up by as much as 11 percent.
• expressed regret upon the retirement announcement of Bruce and Carolyn LaPota, a husband-and-wife teaching team that has been at CCC for 35 years. Bruce LaPota, who will retire on July 1, is a sociology instructor while Carolyn LaPota, who is a business and computer technology instructor, will retire on Aug. 1.
• approved a bid for commercial and vehicle insurance from Coffeyville Insurance Associates. The local agency submitted a quote for $104,204.
