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PETITION
Please
sign our petition to save dropped OU sports. Click
here. If
your current circumstances or position with Ohio University do not require
anonymity, we
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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OU
Lacrosse Alum Megan Sanders's Letter to OU AD Kirby Hocutt in "The Athens
News," Thursday, March 15, 2007. Megan played lacrosse for OU from
1999-2002 and was a captain of the team.
By Megan L. Sanders
Thursday, March 15th, 2007
Dear Ohio University athletics director Kirby
Hocutt: I am writing in response to the March 5 podcast delivered by NCAA
President Myles Brand, in case you missed it. He addressed the ever-popular,
"disturbing and very unfortunate" (Dr. Brand's words) trend of
dropping collegiate varsity sports.
Although Brand admitted that schools do face financial problems, he stated that
in some cases the overall athletics department's budget is not being cut, but
rather spent differently. In other words, he states, "Some teams are being
cut and others are being better supported."
This closely parallels OU's recent decision to cut four
varsity sports, as you repeatedly mentioned "strategically
reinvesting" the department's money at the Feb. 15 Board of Trustees
meeting.
Specifically, in response to Student Trustee Lydia Gerthoffer's question of how
cutting these sports would help the financial situation of your department, you
responded, "There are financial savings and investments in cutting these
other sports. The university has decided to strategically invest in other
sports."
To me, and I am assured I am not alone, this sounds like a different reason
altogether for the cuts: no mention of Title IX or paying down the $4 million
deficit here.
If, in fact, this "strategic reinvestment" is the true reason behind
the cuts, I agree with Brand's encouragement to be ethical about it: "If
you want to redistribute the money, I think you have to think about if you are
doing the right thing." Do you, Mr. Hocutt, think you are doing the right
thing? If so, why won't you be honest about it?
But let's face one of the reasons you did give us: Title IX. Brand states that
"these are not Title IX decisions. Justifying it by blaming Title IX really
does a disservice to the many young women participating in sports." Prior
to this podcast, he has stated (as many supporters of OU's four dropped varsity
sports know), "I certainly hope no university cuts sports to comply with
Title IX. There are always alternatives. The NCAA is always ready and able to
work with an athletics department to identify acceptable alternatives to cutting
sports" (emphasis mine).
At the Feb. 15 OU Board of Trustees meeting, you admitted that in fact, no,
neither you nor any of your staff had sought the assistance of the NCAA when
making the decision to cut these sports.
I find it ironic that Title IX is about creating equal opportunities for both
men and women and now OU is using it as a scapegoat for eliminating sports. In
fact, as you well know, women's lacrosse was added (for the second time) in 1999
as a result of Title IX. So, the sport was added and just as quickly eliminated
as a quick-fix way to adhere to this law? Doesn't seem to add up.
In regard to the value of athletics to the student athlete, Brand states,
"If intercollegiate athletics is really valuable as an experience for those
who participate, you don't want to cut teams. If anything, you want to see if
you can build up new teams."
Again, Mr. Hocutt, you and Brand seem to be at odds. The day you publicly
announced the cuts, you declared, "It's obvious that because of our
financial position, we are not providing our student athletes with the
high-quality experience that is expected at Ohio University."
I beg to differ. If you had taken the time to ask any of the student athletes of
the four cut teams how they valued their experience as an Ohio student athlete,
I think they would tell you everything they loved about their experience, what
they have gained from it, and how deeply they would regret having their team cut
without a single mention of the lack of "high-quality experience"
being provided to them.
So, I'm confused. And I think that was your goal.
If these cuts were about paying down this enormous and (until January) secretive
deficit, please disclose the detailed plan of how the generously projected and
potential savings of $685,000 (and that is only if each affected student athlete
chooses NOT to stay at the school, therefore saving you that athlete's
scholarship money) will go toward paying down the debt.
If these cuts were about Title IX, please disclose where in the written law it
states that cutting participation opportunities for women and men is true to the
law's intentions.
Finally, if this is, as you say, about "strategically reinvesting" the
department's budget, please disclose the budget plans (which as of Jan. 25 were
still unknown) for how the savings from these cut programs will be spent in
alternative ways within the department.
I think that is the least you owe the student body, the current student
athletes, their families, the alumni student athletes and supporters of the
university - the truth.
Here is my truth: I am no longer proud to say I graduated from Ohio University
and am ashamed I have supported and recommended a school that has treated its
most important assets, the students, with such disrespect. Signed, Megan L.
Sanders
Editor's note: Megan Sanders was a captain of the Ohio
University women's lacrosse team, 1999-2002.
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DROPPED
TEAMS
2006
Women's Lacrosse Team
Swimming
and Diving
and
Track
and Field
|
