The university evaluated student suggestions about re-seating students for men's basketball season ticket holders but will not implement them, according to a former Marquette Student Government official.

Former MUSG Executive Vice President Paul Bergl said he and three MUSG senators presented four possible scenarios that could give students more lower level seating while minimizing the financial impact on the Marquette ticket office. The students presented their proposals, along with research about other schools' student sections and a list of discussion points, on Feb. 9 to representatives from Intercollegiate Athletics and the Office of the Senior Vice President.

Bergl said University President the Rev. Robert A. Wild's office and Senior Vice President Greg Kliebhan's office reviewed the proposals. Bergl and the senators were informed Monday of the decision not to implement the proposals.

"I was personally disappointed by this decision, as MUSG worked on this issue perhaps more than any other issue this year," Bergl said.

Bergl said the Rev. Andrew Thon, vice president of Student Affairs, acted as a liaison between MUSG and the administration and informed Bergl and the senators of the university's decision.

"Senior administrators felt that student attendance this past year did not warrant any change. Average student attendance only exceeded the number of student seats in the lower bowl by about 300," Bergl said. "The university and Athletic Department stand to lose huge amounts of revenue if seats are added downstairs."

Thon said the research MUSG conducted of other schools' seating policies showed Marquette's student seating policy was consistent with other schools. Also, Thon said providing more lower level seating to students would displace non-student season ticket holders.

Thon said MUSG presented over 200 different scenarios (?? Earlier the story said 4) in their proposals modeling the effects of providing additional lower level student seating. He said all the scenarios but one showed revenue losses to the university greater than $500,000.

MUSG said the one exception, which provided less than 100 additional lower level student seats, would result in positive revenue for the university, according to Thon.

"But the university reviewed that scenario and concluded that it did not accurately model the displacement of current season ticket holders and would in fact result in a revenue loss as well," Thon said.

Bergl said he still possessed an optimistic view of the Athletic Department's relationship with student government.

"Although our requests were not met, I am certain that MUSG and students will play a major role in future seating discussions after Marquette joins the Big East," Bergl said.

Kyle Moats, senior associate athletics director, said he agreed with Bergl.

"(The Athletic Department) looks to MUSG as the voice of the students," Moats said. "We have been very open with them, I believe, and very transparent about the numbers and other things we have done."

Moats said dialogue between student government and the Athletic Department is good and the department will continue to look to MUSG for input on how to find out student buying and attendance habits, among other issues.

Bergl led MUSG's involvement in securing more student seating for men's basketball games at the Bradley Center. Student demand led the Athletic Department to add five additional upper level sections, bringing the approximate number of student seats to 4,600.

But Bergl and MUSG continued to fight for more lower level seating, and he established what he called an "ad-hoc workgroup" including himself, College of Business Administration senator senior Brian Baranowski, O'Donnell Hall senator freshman Dan Calandriello and Carpenter Tower senator sophomore Brian Collar. Bergl said the group met with Marquette officials for an information session over Christmas break.

The re-seating committee then met Feb. 9, when Bergl and the senators made their proposal. He said he feels they were receptive and willing to listen to the students' suggestions.

"After the meeting, all the administrators huddled around to look over our proposals," Bergl said. "They took everything very seriously."

"All of us felt the MUSG representatives were strong advocates for the students' interests, worked hard and were extremely well-prepared," Thon said.

Thon said administrators told MUSG student season ticket prices, currently $55, will remain the same next season.