By Liz Neuner
            Anyone who has stepped into the student section in Tiger Stadium in the last few years may hear something. Buried underneath the cheers and band there’s a not so subtle creak coming from the bleachers.
            No less than seven Saturdays a year thousands of students climb onto the bleachers in the north end of Death Valley. Jumping, dancing and simply standing have put a strain on the bleachers making them crack, break in half, loosen from their concrete reinforcement and wobble back and forth.
            “We have no plan to replace the bleachers,” say Todd Jeansonne, director of athletic facilities. “The bleachers are repaired as needed.”
            Jeansonne said he had to having no knowledge of badly broken bleachers, blaming the enormity of the stadium and the lack of manpower in his department.
            “We aren’t aware,” Jeansonne said, “With 92,000 seats its hard to look at every seat. ”
            But, Amanda Adams, coordinator of athletic facilities and grounds said she thought there were plans to replace the bleachers in the north end zone.
            “We’re looking for material that are more durable,” Adams said.
            Jeansonne claimed this was not true and the only thing on order were 1,000 clips used to secure loose bleachers,
            “We have some things in stock, but it’s not an unending supply.” Jeansonne said.
            Some students think the bleachers are fine as they are and repairing them would be superfluous. .
            “They do the job.” Said Joshua Devoche, a political science sophomore. “I wish they were more separated so we had the right amount of space.”
            “Some of them are creaky but that’s it.” Vu Lee a mechanical engineering junior said. “They’re going to get messed up anyway.”
            Other students, like Carrie Lyon, a kinesiology sophomore, think the bleachers are unsafe.
            “They are really wobbly and it’s easy to fall of during games.” Said Lyon.
            Though Lyon does think the bleachers need to be replaced, she believes they shouldn’t be replaced right away.
           
            Facility services has game marshals on hand to report any thing in need of repair, Jeansonne said each week reports come in and things that need to be repaired are taken care of before the next game.
            “We constantly repair during and prior to the next game,” said Jeansonne, “it’s a continual effort.”
            “We take care of the ones in very poor condition,” Adams said.
            Jeansonne said that facility services has been repairing the potholes outside of the stadium. As for inside, they’ve taken care of waterproofing and general messes such as coke spills and vomit and are in the beginning processes of replacing the south end zone bleachers.
            The lack of money and time may be to blame for the inattention to the student section. Facility services is a completely self-sufficient department on campus. They receive no state, tax or school funds.
            “Everything is self-generated,” Jeansonne said. “Everything we do is requested.”
            For instance, the replacing of the windows in Tiger Stadium was requested by Tiger Athletic Foundation.  An enormous presence both financial and contractually on campus, TAF has the power more than facility services to replace the student bleachers according to Jeansonne.
            Facility services alone replacing the bleachers would take years. Their plan to repair the south end of the stadium has taken more than a year to just get the paper work through.
            “There’s a lot of red tape to go through.” Jeansonne said that getting the paperwork through would take up to 18 months.
            While TAF would need a land lease to do anything according to Jeansonne, having a fundraiser similar to the window fundraiser would be a faster process.  
            So far this seasons no bleacher related injuries have been reported according to Jeansonne. In the meantime students will have to take caution while attending any football games and report any broken bleachers to facility services or game marshals.
            “We heavily depend of feedback,” Jeansonne said.