Mathew Murphy, Campus Carrier Deputy News Editor

New sports are said to change the campus culture when they arrive at colleges and universities. Though many were skeptical at first, football seems to have made a positive impact on Berry’s campus.

Two years ago, students were in the streets of campus protesting the idea of a football team. Junior Bailey Merlin describes the protest as a non-violent crowding of the streets at Berry.

“It was a good amount of people…just were in front of Krannert with banners and posters…they would go from one side of Krannert to Science, they would just like go in between the cross-walk and block traffic” Merlin said.

Merlin said she was shocked when football was first announced and made it clear that she did not want the football program.

“I was really shocked, kind of upset, because I don’t think Berry was founded to be an athletic anything…I didn’t want the football program when I first heard about it” Merlin said.

 When asked about her biggest concern about football Merlin said that her concern was that the focus could leave academics and be put on athletics.

“…the concern would go away from academia and be more focused on the athletics department” Merlin said.

Merlin now believes that the football program on campus does some good and adds to the school spirit of Berry.

“As far as I know, it’s mostly like people are school spirited more so than usual and that’s good…” Merlin said.

Senior, David Ray was also a skeptic of the new football program when it was announced, and worried that football would bring in a bad crowd to Berry.

“I think my biggest concern was with the crowds that, I guess the football life would attract…” Ray said.

Ray thinks that football has changed the culture on campus, but in a positive way. He said football has improved the community on campus as well as add to the school spirit.

“I think it’s for the better in a lot of ways, campus community has definitely improved as far as school spirit and people…showing their support for their school publicly” Ray said.

Though he was a skeptic at first, Ray said that the good that football brings to campus outweighs the bad.

“As I’ve seen it [football] started and I’ve seen what is has brought to the table the good far outweighs the bad as far as that community aspect goes” Ray said.

Cecily Crow, Director of Student Activities, also believes that football has had an impact on the culture of campus, though she was not certain that the culture has changed this year.

Crow said there is a heightened sense of excitement on campus this year, though she did not claim that this was all because of football.

“Just in general with the freshman class, and I would think football has a little to do with this, there does seem to be a sense of excitement and school spirit” Crow said.

Crow said she has seen a positive impact created by athletes supporting other athletes and thinks that this support carries over into the general student population.

“You see the athletes supporting one another and that carries over to the general student population” Crow said.

Crow said that football players have to choose to come to Berry first because athletic scholarships are not offered for athletics, which keeps campus culture from being greatly changed.

“ I think that for a football player to come to Berry, they have to come to Berry first because we don’t offer scholarships…The culture was here and will always be here and the football students just become part of it” Crow said.

Football seems to have had an effect on campus culture, but mainly in terms of boosting school spirit.