02-14-2021, 10:22 AM
(This post was last modified: 02-14-2021, 10:48 AM by Spiny_Norman.)
On February 9th, Keep Stanford Wrestling co-chairs, Patricia Miranda '01 and Robert Hatta '97, 36 Sports Strong co-chair Kathy Levinson '77, and Ohio State University President Dr. Kristina Johnson BS '79, MSEE, PhD '83 met via Zoom with Provost Persis Drell and Patrick Dunkley, Deputy Athletic Director.
Their report:
To guide our conversation, we used the presentation found here. Through it, we made the ask that the 11 sports be reinstated and allowed to self-endow. We laid out publicly available and AD-provided budget data which show the cuts made a minimal impact on the overall deficits, which are set to grow and sustain well after COVID and the elimination of 1/3 of the student athletes on campus. We showed that wrestling's ability to raise over $12 million over such a short period of time proves that sports can individually endow themselves. We closed with impassioned personal testimonies supporting the diversity of opportunities and excellence that come with a broad-based sports offering (see notes on the very last slide to see our closing statement to Provost Drell).
In the end, the Provost was unmoved. She stated that her long-term priority is to ensure Stanford's ability to transform lives for more than just student athletes. In the near term, her priority is to provide a 2020-21 season to the 11 eliminated sports and then to support "as many of the remaining sports as possible". She acknowledged our economic data, but vaguely assured us that the financial issues of the department run deeper than these figures show.
Finally, when pressed that our financial solution is a win for all parties and that a resistance to reconsideration in any form could only mean that finances were not the true reason for the cuts, we asked the question: what, then, was the true reason for the cuts? Provost Drell's response: I cannot give you the answers you want.
The primary arguments defending these cuts, in the face of mounting data that they don't meaningfully solve budget deficits, disenfranchise a third of current and would-be student athletes, and anger generations of alumni, amount to "because we said so." We've now heard this from Athletic Director Bernard Muir, several members of the Board of Trustees (including its athletics subcommittee and outgoing Chairman, Jeff Raikes), and Provost Persis Drell. This is not transparency. This is not innovative, creative thinking. This is not the Stanford we know.
And yet, it appears that this is the Stanford of today. Time is running out and direct, logical and good faith dialogue continues to be met by closed minds and an unwillingness to even consider an alternate solution.
Please share this summary with all who might join and support our call to know the real reasons why Stanford eliminated 11 sports. Ask why Ohio State University, facing the same economic challenges of any other university, is supporting all of its 36 varsity sports. Ask why Dartmouth, Brown and William and Mary Universities have reinstated their cut programs. How many articles like this one published today by Sports Illustrated have to be written before Stanford tells us the truth. Bring forward every resource, contact and connection you have, demanding to know why.
We've been told to heal, to move on, to find closure in the wake of these cuts. One cannot find closure unless they understand the reasons behind the events that broke his or her heart.
Until then, we keep fighting.
Their report:
To guide our conversation, we used the presentation found here. Through it, we made the ask that the 11 sports be reinstated and allowed to self-endow. We laid out publicly available and AD-provided budget data which show the cuts made a minimal impact on the overall deficits, which are set to grow and sustain well after COVID and the elimination of 1/3 of the student athletes on campus. We showed that wrestling's ability to raise over $12 million over such a short period of time proves that sports can individually endow themselves. We closed with impassioned personal testimonies supporting the diversity of opportunities and excellence that come with a broad-based sports offering (see notes on the very last slide to see our closing statement to Provost Drell).
In the end, the Provost was unmoved. She stated that her long-term priority is to ensure Stanford's ability to transform lives for more than just student athletes. In the near term, her priority is to provide a 2020-21 season to the 11 eliminated sports and then to support "as many of the remaining sports as possible". She acknowledged our economic data, but vaguely assured us that the financial issues of the department run deeper than these figures show.
Finally, when pressed that our financial solution is a win for all parties and that a resistance to reconsideration in any form could only mean that finances were not the true reason for the cuts, we asked the question: what, then, was the true reason for the cuts? Provost Drell's response: I cannot give you the answers you want.
The primary arguments defending these cuts, in the face of mounting data that they don't meaningfully solve budget deficits, disenfranchise a third of current and would-be student athletes, and anger generations of alumni, amount to "because we said so." We've now heard this from Athletic Director Bernard Muir, several members of the Board of Trustees (including its athletics subcommittee and outgoing Chairman, Jeff Raikes), and Provost Persis Drell. This is not transparency. This is not innovative, creative thinking. This is not the Stanford we know.
And yet, it appears that this is the Stanford of today. Time is running out and direct, logical and good faith dialogue continues to be met by closed minds and an unwillingness to even consider an alternate solution.
Please share this summary with all who might join and support our call to know the real reasons why Stanford eliminated 11 sports. Ask why Ohio State University, facing the same economic challenges of any other university, is supporting all of its 36 varsity sports. Ask why Dartmouth, Brown and William and Mary Universities have reinstated their cut programs. How many articles like this one published today by Sports Illustrated have to be written before Stanford tells us the truth. Bring forward every resource, contact and connection you have, demanding to know why.
We've been told to heal, to move on, to find closure in the wake of these cuts. One cannot find closure unless they understand the reasons behind the events that broke his or her heart.
Until then, we keep fighting.
"We have an unwritten rule around here not to do anything stupid."
-Casey Jacobsen, Feb 3, 2000