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Last week, I indicated that an announcement regarding changes in our intercollegiate athletics program would be forthcoming. On Monday, Director of Athletics Kevin Buisman presented his recommendations to the Cabinet.
After careful deliberation, the Cabinet and I have accepted the recommendation that two programs, men's swimming and men's tennis, will be eliminated from MSU's athletic offerings effective with the start of the 2004-05 academic year to address gender equity concerns. In addition, the recommendation includes additional measures to address the athletic program's budget issues.
This reduction will directly affect 21 student athletes in the two programs being considered for elimination, including 13 men in swimming and eight more competing in tennis. Other corrective actions will be necessary to close the growing disparity between male and female participants in the MSU athletic program and the recommendation includes a revised gender equity plan that will see men's participation opportunities decline from the current number of 346 to 247 next year, while targeting growth in the existing women's programs that will see their numbers climb from 220 opportunities to 269 by next fall. The loss of nearly 100 spots on the men's side would include the 21 opportunities that will come as a result of dropping men's swimming and tennis, with the balance achieved through stringent roster management "caps" on the remaining men's programs. The eleven women's programs would each be expected to increase their number by a handful of athletes, with the largest growth slated for the track program, where 25 more athletes will be expected to compete in the Maverick cross country, indoor, and outdoor track programs.
MSU, like many other schools across the nation, has been forced to make some difficult choices in order to assure its intercollegiate athletics program is competitively funded, financially stable, and gender equity compliant. The recommendation to eliminate these two sports comes after a nearly 15-month long process of self-study, including recent work by an internal Athletic Review Work Group I appointed in November that followed up on earlier study and recommendations offered by the community-based "Committee on the Future of MSU Athletics".
I believe this recommendation offers a solution that creates a shared responsibility between the men's and women's programs in addressing the gender equity issue and will allow the program to achieve its goal of compliance with Title IX through the standard of proportionality.
Dropping of these particular sports was most logical for several reasons – including a declining number of schools competing in these sports within the North Central Conference and throughout the region; consistency with previous recommendations from the community task force; a desire to improve proportionality standards between male and female competitors to meet MSU's commitment to gender equity; and other unique funding and competitive issues for these particular programs. With MSU's announcement, the North Central Conference will be down to just three member schools sponsoring men's swimming (St. Cloud State University, University of North Dakota, and University of South Dakota) and two schools offering men's tennis (St. Cloud State University and Augustana). The cuts will reduce the overall Maverick athletic portfolio to 20 sports, including 11 for women and nine for men.
Several other men's sports had been considered for possible elimination, but the decision was ultimately to spare as many programs as possible, while accomplishing the remainder of the necessary participation corrections through more effective roster management. There will be a high degree of accountability built into the new approach. While we were able to spare programs, it is imperative that everyone is committed to following through on the implementation of this revised program or we will have to take remedial action again in the future.
Several options, including additional fundraising and a new approach to scholarship aid are also being considered so that the final two objectives of the athletic review process – long-term financial stability and competitively funded budgets – can be established as part of a stronger, healthier overall athletic program.
My Cabinet and I are continuing to study a proposal that would offer some relief from the significant tuition increases the athletic department has experienced over the last several years and fundraising efforts in athletics will be increased across the board. As a result of the feedback process, a number of people have contacted us within the last ten days and expressed a willingness to support us financially if we could retain some of these programs. We have met this request and we need these same people to now come forward and answer this challenge to ensure that we don't face this same dilemma again some time again in the near future.
Over the next couple of weeks, I am initiating a period of consideration based on this recommendation to allow feedback before I reach a final and conclusive decision on this matter. During this period I encourage you to speak up regarding the specific recommendation. Based on this input, I will make a final decision in mid-April.
To view the recommendation online, please visit http://www.msumavericks.com where you can also provide your feedback.
I appreciate your commitment to the health and stability of MSU and Intercollegiate Athletics, and I welcome your feedback.
Sincerely,
Richard Davenport
President