Battle in Seattle, WWU vs CWU: knight checks king.

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http://www.bellinghamherald.com/255/story/745809.html

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/cfootball/395309_western09.html

 

 

Seems like a pretty gutsy move to me. I'm a fan of football and all, but I like academics better.

 

 

Colleagues:

 

I am writing to share with you a decision I have made regarding our

Intercollegiate Athletics program. Upon the recommendation of the

Department of Intercollegiate Athletics and the Vice President for

Student Affairs, Western will be eliminating its program of

Intercollegiate Football.

 

This decision has profound consequences for our talented and highly

motivated student athletes, our dedicated and hard-working coaching

colleagues, and our passionate supporters on campus and in the community.

I know you share with me great empathy for the many affected members of

our Western community for whom this decision has major emotional,

financial, and academic consequences.

 

I feel strongly that we need to offer a high quality program of

intercollegiate athletic competition that is commensurate with our status

as a premier university. And, we do. In a respected ranking of

competitive strength across all sports (the Learfield Sports Directors

Cup), we rank in the top ten of over 100 Division II programs.

 

How do we maintain that quality given the current budget situation?

Maintaining excellence is a challenge we all face across the university

as budgets are being seriously reduced. The problem is compounded in

Intercollegiate Athletics because, historically, actual expenditures in

Intercollegiate Athletics have exceeded budgeted allocations, averaging a

deficit of about $200,000 per year over the last 5 years. Because of

factors like escalating travel costs, that shortfall approached a half

million dollars last year.

 

As painful as this decision is, I do hope you see its connection to the

principles you have critically reviewed and that, as a community, we are

committed to in going through what continues to be a very difficult

budget process. Certainly, you can see the connection to our paramount

value: protecting core mission. But, also please understand the

relationship to our stated value of protecting quality: in that which we

choose to do in Intercollegiate Athletics, our priority remains to do it

well. To balance the Athletics budget through cuts across all programs

simply would not be consistent with that principle.

 

A word on timing. The decision has been made early in the budget process

in anticipation of the athletic recruiting scheduled to start this week

and to maximize chances for student athletes and coaches to seek other

opportunities. In making this change, Western will maintain scholarship

commitments to student athletes electing to remain at our university and

will honor obligations to employees.

 

I worry that decisions of this magnitude create a sense of instability

that could have much wider affects than those involving one sport. So, I

conclude by emphasizing our commitment to continue to excel in that we

choose to do. We are an outstanding university and will continue to be

so, intercollegiate athletics included.

 

And, finally, I wish to express, on behalf of us all, our shared

gratitude to the many hundreds of football players, coaches, and

supporters who, over more than a hundred years, have given so much of

themselves. We are a prouder university for their efforts; players past

and current, we trust, are all the more successful for having been a part

of our intercollegiate athletics program.

 

Sincerely,

 

Bruce