Ditch Quidditch, Says Alum

Chris Sesno isn’t giving his alma mater another dime until they promise none of it will be given to the college Quidditch team.

Sesno grumpily declared in an open letter to Middlebury College he posted at AOL Fanhouse:  

Before I decide to donate some of my hard-earned dollars to the College I love, I would like to express a few grievances about the financial allocations process, mainly about the absurdity of providing funding to Harry Potter wannabees who trounce around with brooms that don’t fly between their legs and put my beloved Middlebury on the national radar for its Quidditch ‘team.’

He makes predictably unfavorable comparisons between the Quidditch program and “legitimate” academic programs and student services that have suffered cuts. This seemed to me a case of comparing apples and oranges. Does Middlebury spend nothing at all on any other athletics? If it does fund athletics, then any funded team is be liable for the same criticism. 

Sesno adds that the college’s rugby program had to pay its own way to the 2009 national tournament (where it won the championship). But that doesn’t mean the rugby team’s on-campus activities are unfunded.

I felt the true comparison would be between the rugby team’s tournament costs and  Middlebury College’s Quidditch team’s expenses when they play for the Intercollegiate Quidditch Association championship.

Or not. You see, the College Quidditch World Cup is always played at Middlebury College.

2 thoughts on “Ditch Quidditch, Says Alum

  1. Presumably, Chris is the son of journalist Frank W. Sesno (Middlebury, 1977) and his wife Kathleen Sesno (Middlebury, 1977), and the younger brother of Matthew Sesno (Middlebury, 2006). Perhaps the college’s financial position (and student diversity) would improve if it charged legacy admissions a higher rate of tuition than non-legacy admissions.

  2. I could understand funding research into the creation of flying brooms – but not the “sport”.

    Now, if they were playing Rollerball (James Caan style) THAT I’d donate to!

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