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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 ALUMNI SPEAK OUT
Excellent article from Robert Walter, The
Ohio University Nation’s
Capital Alumni Network
THE POST ONLINE
January 31, 2007
Your Turn: Team cuts reveal inaction to gain alumni input
Letter to the Editor
Dear President McDavis and Athletic Director Kirby Hocutt,
We wanted to write you to express our displeasure upon receiving the news that
four sports teams had been eliminated — without public, student or ALUMNI
input.
While most of us understand that economic times are tough for the university and
the athletic department, what we do not understand is why every effort was not
made to keep these four athletic programs before cutting them. We know that a
committee was put together to study the issue and make recommendations, but we
don’t feel that was enough. What other options did they consider?
Why was this crisis and potential course of action not announced to the students
and alumni?
This university raised $200 million dollars from supporters during the Third
Century Campaign. A new athletic support effort was made this year with the
“Bobcat Club” that raised $400,000. We can raise more.
Why was there not a year-long campaign to raise the $4 million dollars that the
athletic department is in debt? Why not a call for support to keep these four
programs?
You have asked the students and alumni to pitch in to help raise money and pay
for all kinds of projects in the past (Ping Center), and currently with the new
Baker Center.
Why not ask one of them (Matt Lauer, Peter King, Mike Schmidt, Dave Zastudil,
etc.) to be the spokesperson to help raise money to keep these teams and help
the athletic department out of their hole?
Many of our well-known alumni are solid supporters of Ohio. Surely one of them
would agree to lend their name and time to this effort.
Why not ask the alumni (and students) for ideas on ways to help with this
problem?
We have a nationally respected sports administration program, business majors,
finance majors, economics majors and public relations majors. Could one of them
come up with an idea that the members of the committee did not think of? We
think they could!
Why not ask the alumni of these programs to donate to keep their teams?
While we regret the decision to eliminate the teams, we regret even more the
manner in which it was handled. The alumni of this university have given and
given a lot to support our school. In comparison to other schools and alumni, we
have found Ohio alumni very loyal and committed to the school. The alumni of
this school want to give back to their alma mater and do so frequently. If you
ask alumni to help and give them the reason why and how it will help Ohio, we
won’t just jump, but we will ask “how high?” All we ask is that we are
included in the discussion.
We attended Ohio and graduated from Ohio. We are Ohio! The student athletes that
are losing their teams are our little brothers and sisters, children and
grandchildren, and future fellow alumni. We desire nothing but the best for Our University and for them.
These cuts eliminate ways that students can get involved on campus, and reasons
why students would attend Ohio. We would ask you to reconsider your decision to
eliminate these teams until all efforts to keep them have been made.
The Nation’s Capital Alumni Network, Robert Walter, president
Suggestions from an alum on how to deal with budget
problems:
Here are a few ideas that could be used to
help save these programs and reduce the athletic dept. deficit at the same
time.
1. Cutting all athletic Budgets by 3%
2.
With the Athletic department being overstaffed! – Propose not to replace empty
staff positions for 6 months and put the money back into the budget. We have a
very capable sports admin program and could use some students to fill in for the
short term.
3. Propose to asking the Bobcat Club for
assistance – they are able re-earmark the money to the athletic department.
They have raised $560,000 since June for the "to provide funding to enhance
the student-athlete experience for all student-athletes that comprise our men's
and women's intercollegiate sport teams." This would seem like a worthy
manner to spend some of that money
4. Propose asking every
alumni who participated in sports for $200 for the next 3 years. (Stating that
the athletic program is in a dyer need for assistance. Letting the alumni know
that their athletic program is in great financial need.)
5.
Propose to the student senate add $10 activity fee for each quarter for the next
3 year, similar to the activity fee for the Ping center
6.
Propose cutting men’s indoor track and field only and cutting back on team
rosters for outdoor track and field to 45, which will cut the total number of 60
male athletes.
Other ideas that I would advocate employing
would be to:
1. Reduce the # of football players on the
squad that are non-essential. We have to have 85 full scholarships for football,
fine. But do we need 120 players on the team. 85 players is already 4 players at
every position. Each player on the team costs the University $10,000 a year. Cut
the roster down to 100 players. Save $200,000 per year. $800,000 over 4 years
BTW, each Track & Field athlete costs the University less than $1,000 per
year. Track and Field actually makes the University money! They give out 7
scholarships, which are usually divided in half and given to 14 or so athletes.
Each of these athletes contributes half of their tuition to attend. The other 40
athletes on the team pay their entire way to the University. Over 4 years these
athletes contribute $800,000 to the school, far more than the cost of running
the program during that time!
2. Spend more responsibly on
Football. Did we really have to bring every single player to Mobile, including
the redshirts? If they didn't contribute during the year to the success in
getting to the GMAC Bowl, then let them go next year when they do play and we
make it there again! Do we have to pay for the players to stay in a hotel room
for HOME GAMES? This is just ludicrous!
3. Schedule more
money games for Football. In our non-conference games for next year, we will
only probably be getting a payout from the Virginia Tech game. Schedule two $
games a year to help football pay for itself and quit being a drag on the
budget. This would bring in $500,000 a year or so
4. If you
don't want an activity fee for student to support the athletic dept, then Charge
the students for tickets to Football and Basketball !! OR charge a nominal fee
for tickets to each game, whether they go or not, like the Ping Center. Each student
contributes $ right now toward that, whether they use it or not. Charge
$1 per home game for football and basketball per student for their tickets.
20,000 students x 16 homes games = $320,000 per year Just some ideas that are
easily achievable!
Other ideas:
1.
Mount a fundraising campaign to erase the deficit and keep all the teams. All
the sports would benefit as well as other programs that are involved with the
varsity teams - athletic training, sports administration.
2.
make it a project for students in the sports ad program to examine the budget
and spending patterns and come up with solutions.
3. Do a
better job or marketing and selling sponsorships. Surely, we can raise more with
some creative thinking.
4. Bring back the PAW on
merchandise! All profits on selling PAW merchandise for the next 3 years will be
donated to erasing the deficit and keeping these 4 teams.
As an alumni of The Graduate School of Ohio University, a former
Graduate Assistant for the OU Track & Field Team, a husband of a member of 5
MAC Team Championships for Cross Country/Track & Field at OU, a
brother-in-law of a graduate of the Medical School of Ohio University, a
son-in-law of an All-Mac football player who played in the Sun Bowl for OU, a
good friend and former college teammate of the current Men's and Women's Head
Cross Country/Track & Field Coach, and a good friend and co-worker of Coach
Elmore Banton - the former Head Coach at Ohio University for twenty-three years
and the 1964 NCAA Cross Country National Champion, I have a vested interest in
the well-being of the OU Track & Field community.
First, I would like to present to you some valuable information that you need to
know, some interesting facts, and some things that need to be done.
On January 25, 2007, Ohio University announced the dissolution of Men's Track
& Field because Today, Ohio University is committed to compliance Title IX.
It is committed to compliance with this federal statute that guarantees equal
rights to everyone regardless of gender. Quite frankly, Ohio University is
taking a step backwards in their compliance with Title IX. In 1995, OU adopted a
gender equity plan calling for the addition of three women's sports. Those three
sports were added by 1999. However, in 2001, to continue with compliance with
Title IX it was determined that a fourth sport needed to be added. That never
happened. In fact, on January 25, OU dropped a woman's sport, Lacrosse. How is
that a continuation of their compliance with Title IX? There is a way for OU to
be compliant with Title IX without dropping ANY sports. There are alternatives
to compliance with the federal statute that do NOT include the dissolution of
sports.
According to the Office for Civil Rights, a federal organization under the US
Department of Education, there is nothing in Title IX that requires the cutting
or reduction of teams in order to demonstrate compliance with Title IX, and that
the elimination of teams is a disfavored practice. It is contrary to the spirit
of Title IX for the government to require or encourage an institution to
eliminate athletic teams. Therefore, even the federal government, who mandates
compliance with Title IX, emphatically disapproves of the elimination of sports
to maintain compliance.
According The Post on January 29, 2007, Ohio University is the state's least
racially diverse college and offers one of the lowest percentages of financial
aid among similar schools in Ohio, according to the Ohio Board of Regents, 2006
Performance Report. Taking that into account, OU is now going to cut a sport,
Men's Track & Field, that historically has around the second or third
highest number of minority athletes. This would clearly further hurt OU's weak
reputation in terms of racial diversity even more. According to the January 25th
press conference, OU is firmly committed to the nearly 100 student-athletes.
These individuals are our first concern. If these athletes were their first
concern, the administration should have found a solution that did not cut their
sport and directly hurt both compliance with Title IX and their commitment to
improving racial diversity. This cut is a clear step back on both fronts.
Mark McClure -
John Carroll University Cross Country/Track & Field Coach
Our athletics budget was in the bottom half of the conference, the Athletic
Director said in his January 25 press conference. According to the Office of
Postsecondary Education's website, http://ope.ed.gov/athletics/main.asp, OU
Athletics has the HIGHEST operating expenses in the MAC meaning that they
have the most money to work with for their athletic programs.
The AD also said
that the women's programs were near the bottom of the conference in terms of
operating expenses that's his fault for budgeting that way. Cutting the
three sports will save the department around $685,000. Of that $685,000, over
$400,000 of that is from the Women's Lacrosse Team.
Therefore, this cut is
hurting the women's programs even more by taking more money away from them.
Before the cuts, the women received 32.7% of the operating expenses. After the
cut, the women will receive 31% of the operating expenses. Again, these cuts in
the name of gender equity are further hurting the women's programs and
compliance with Title IX.
The two men's sports being cut have the lowest
operating expenses per athlete of the men's sports. Why would you cut the lowest
budgeted sports to save money? Football has higher operating expenses than all
the women's sports combined it is number two in the MAC in terms of football
operating expenses. Football has operating expenses of $1,082,469.
The women's
operating expenses for ALL women's sports are $859,298. To take this one step
further, the operating expenses Per Participant for Track & Field is about
$1000, Football is $10,117, for Men's Basketball $22,964, and for Men's Swimming
and Diving $2,325.
Considering all of this information, I want to advise you on some things that
YOU can personally do to help save your Track & Field team at Ohio
University.
1. Get some information and facts together like this. Do some research at some
websites like some of the above listed. Put some numbers together and find
facts. You need to get this information together to give to the Board of
Trustees. This decision IS NOT FINAL! The Board of Trustees does actually have
the power to undo this decision. They have the power to assist you in this more
than any other group.
2. This needs to be done NOW. You will need even more information than this and
it needs to be done quickly before it is too late. Try to keep emotions out of
it. Give them information. Give them facts that will make them rethink their
decision and to open up dialogue on this issue.
3. The Faculty Senate Meeting is February 12th. Try your best to get the
information to each member and ask them to put this decision on the agenda. Find
out when the Board of Trustees meets and get this information to them before
they meet.
4. Release your information to the news media beyond The Post in Athens. This is
powerful information and a powerful story that can help gain support. Go to
papers recognized in the state or even nationally.
5. Letters to the President and to the Athletic Director may not be effective.
They are prepared for this and are expecting a wave of criticism.
6. Get the members of the Men's Swimming and Diving and the Women's Lacrosse
Team to join you in your efforts. The Athletic Director said that YOU are their
PRIMARY CONCERN. He asked you to SUPPORT EACH OTHER. This decision affects the
lives of each and every one of you. You are in this together. Help each other.
Be aware that THERE ARE WAYS TO BE COMPLIANT without cutting sports. This is not
a necessary recourse for compliance with Title IX and solving budget issues. It
is a CLEAR step back as far as compliance with Title IX and racial diversity is
concerned. These are just some of the glaring facts that need to be made known
to everyone. It just takes a few of the right people to understand your point of
view for a change to be made. Good luck.
Sincerely,
Mark McClure
John Carroll University Cross Country/Track & Field Coach
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DROPPED
TEAMS
2006
Women's Lacrosse Team
Swimming
and Diving
and
Track
and Field
|
