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Please
sign our petition to save dropped OU sports. Click
here. If
your current circumstances or position with Ohio University do not require
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request that you sign with your name rather than as "Anonymous"
as some have. Thank you and thanks to the Women's Lacrosse blog
for setting up this petition.
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New Jersey Legislative
Committee Unanimously Passes Resolution Urging Rutgers to Reinstate Cut Sports
"Swimming World"
---
Lane 9 News ---
Flash! New Jersey Legislative Committee
Unanimously Passes Resolution Urging Rutgers to Reinstate Cut Sports -- February 8,
2007
PISCATAWAY, New Jersey, February 8. IN another
successful strike for those fighting to save men's swimming across the
collegiate spectrum, New Jersey's Assembly Higher Education Committee
today UNANIMOUSLY passed AR 233 urging Rutgers to reinstate the six
cut teams notwithstanding an appearance today and plea by University
spokesperson Sharon Ainsworth, Director of State Relations, in
opposition to the Resolution.
Every single Committee member spoke out in favor of the Resolution.
Members of the Committee reminded Ainsworth that Rutgers needs to come
before their Committee in the future, and that the University needs to
weigh that in deciding whether or not to reverse their earlier
decision.
This is a big triumph for the Coalition to Save Rutgers Sports as this
Resolution followed hours of testimony in October before the Committee
at a public hearing relating to this decision, at which time Athletics
Director Robert Mulcahy spoke at length on behalf of the Rutgers
Athletics Department and the University, defending the decision to
eliminate these teams. He was afforded every opportunity to present
the University's case, even precluding some team supporters from
speaking because of the amount of time his testimony consumed.
The Coalition is on record as stating that is "owes a great debt
of gratitude to the Higher Education Committee, its Chair, Patrick
Diegnan, and to its members, for recognizing Rutgers' decision for
what it really was; for giving the high-achieving and dedicated
student-athletes on these teams and the team alums the respect they
deserve; and for preserving opportunities for those in high school
engaged in these sports. Let us hope that such wisdom – along with a
sense of compassion, equity, integrity and honesty – prevails
tomorrow at the Board of Governors meeting."
Click
Here to view full text of Resolution AR 233 in PDF format.
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From "The Star Ledger"
Friday, February 09, 2007
Star-Ledger Staff
Calling it a "big mistake," the Assembly's Higher Education
Committee approved a resolution yesterday urging Rutgers University's Board of
Governors to reconsider its decision to eliminate six varsity sports.
"Once the plug is pulled on these sports, they will never come
back," said Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan Jr., the committee chairman.
"This just simply doesn't make sense. This is a big mistake."
Faced with $66 million less in state funding, Rutgers administrators said
last year the athletic department had to "share the pain" of
across-the-board cuts, which included the elimination of 189 staff positions, 64
deferred faculty searches and the elimination of 800 class sections.
The plan to cut the six varsity sports -- men's swimming and diving, men's
heavyweight and lightweight crew, men's and women's fencing and men's tennis --
affects 153 athletes and 10 coaches. A group of students and alumni, called Save
Our Sports Coalition, has argued that eliminating the teams will result in the
loss of top scholar-athletes as well as financial donations from alumni.
Yesterday, lawmakers said the university used the budget problems as an
"excuse" to enact a long-desired plan to reduce the number of teams at
Rutgers. Under the new plan, there now will be 24 university-sanctioned teams.
Several committee members said the operating budgets of the six teams --
about $800,000 -- pale in comparison to the football team's $13 million budget
and the athletic department's overall budget of $38 million.
The committee said eliminating the teams will have a negative impact on
gifted student-athletes competing in the sports and on the approximately 12,000
high school students throughout New Jersey who compete in fencing, swimming,
rowing and tennis who might otherwise have chosen Rutgers as a place to compete
at the highest intercollegiate level as NCAA Division I athletes.
Sharon A. Ainsworth, director of Rutgers' Office of State Relations, told the
committee that the decision to eliminate the teams was among "difficult
choices" the university was forced to make in light of the budget problems,
though she admitted "it was not the very first time" that cutting
sports was considered.
Lawmakers reminded Ainsworth that the Rutgers Board of Governors needs to
come before the committee in the future and urged them to heed the resolution.
"I can assure you this topic will be brought up when we do the
budget," said Assemblyman Joseph Malone (R-Burlington).
Assemblyman Tom Giblin (D-Essex) said he was dismayed the university doesn't
seem receptive to the efforts by alumni and students to raise money to keep the
teams running. "I think there's frustration that maybe this decision was
made and all the rest of this is hogwash," Giblin said.
Lisa Pantel of Mendham, mother of champion Rutgers fencer Adam Pantel and a
leader of the Coalition to Save Our Sports, said the teams have now raised
$655,000 in pledges.
"The committee today afforded the students on these teams and the alumni
of these teams the respect they deserve and they recognized the importance of
maintaining opportunities for high school athletes who compete in these
sports," Pantel said.
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DROPPED
TEAMS
2006
Women's Lacrosse Team
Swimming
and Diving
and
Track
and Field
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