The Student Senate made the right decision by approving a 4 percent increase in the athletic fee for full time undergraduate students.

Athletic programs need continuing support from students, and people should leave the athletic department alone for trying to improve a program with the most teams in the Ohio Valley Conference and all Division I schools in the state.

Opponents of raising students’ fees to go toward athletics should consider all Director of Athletics Rich McDuffie and his staff has done before they say athletics doesn’t deserve extra funding.

I bet a survey that shows the individuals who are against the increased fees are also in favor of having the Indianapolis Colts use Eastern facilities for a summer training camp.

Once again, those same people may not have been supporters of putting field turf in O’Brien Stadium in the first place because the money could be put toward something else. The thing these people fail to see is without that field turf the Colts would have never even considered leaving Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind., for Charleston.

Colts head coach Tony Dungy visited the campus March 9, saying the turf is a huge contributor to his interest in Eastern.

“We have it in our indoor facility and the players love it,” he said.

Dungy wouldn’t even have the chance to rave about the new turf without the hard work of the athletic department.

Last year, the athletic department raised nearly $600,000 on its own from private gifts for the project – something that also may have been forgotten.

Having an NFL team come to campus can only mean good things for both Charleston and the university. The likes of Peyton Manning, Edgerrin James and Marvin Harrison is more than enough to bring swarms of people to the area.

Coming with those people will be their wallets, which they will open up for local businesses, boosting the economy for the city.

A potential Colts move to Charleston could also bode well for the football team. Not only will the Eastern coaching staff get a chance to sit in on Colts meetings, but it could potentially bring higher quality recruits to the school.

Higher quality athletic teams will lead to upgrades in other areas of the school. The already high enrollment rate can only get higher as Northern Illinois University saw with the success of its football team last season. The school might also see more out of state students when people from Indiana come and figure out Eastern actually exists.

Better teams could also mean happier alumni who in the future may be willing to donate more money to the school. All of these are potentially positive things that could result in even more positive outcomes.

So while students may have to pay extra money for athletic fees, and some faculty members say the school is ignoring academics, the positives still outweigh the negatives.

Students currently don’t even pay that much for the athletic fee of $63.50. After a 4 percent increase over a five year span, the fee will still only be at $87.65, which is still less than other similar state institutions such as Southern Illinois and Illinois State.

Until some of the people complaining about increased fees come up with ideas to bring immediate income to the school, I say stop complaining about how McDuffie and the athletic department are being greedy by asking for more money.

McDuffie raised $600,000 so why can’t we give him a small increase that could lead to big things?