[donkey687]

There is a lot of speculation about the reason for the cuts. Is it purely financial? Is it to diminish the role of athletics at Stanford?  The reality is that this was Bernard Muir's agenda that he pushed through. He cut sports at Delaware. He tried cutting them at Georgetown.  He sold it to the board based on finances, and the decision appealed to certain faculty and administrators who are in favor of having less athletes filling up the student population. Why would Bernard push this through and limit his fiefdom? It is because he doesn't care about these sports and he views them as a resource drain on the major sports. Every time I hear Bernard speak he talks about how Stanford is behind in facilities and spending and has lower budgets in many of the major sports. Thus, even though these cut 11 sports didn't have large budgets, he wants money focused on the remaining sports. That is why they are turning down alumni donations to keep these sports. They want the big donors to help build out a new weight room or something for football not to endow the wrestling team.  The flaw in his thinking however is that he is viewing donors to Stanford as a zero sum game. Someone who is going to endow fencing may have no interest in supporting other sports. I think Bernard made a miscalculation and the big fundraising campaign they are about to begin to bolster up the major sports is going to be harmed by pissing off so many alumni.

[donkey687]

There is a lot of speculation about the reason for the cuts. Is it purely financial? Is it to diminish the role of athletics at Stanford?  The reality is that this was Bernard Muir's agenda that he pushed through. He cut sports at Delaware. He tried cutting them at Georgetown.  He sold it to the board based on finances, and the decision appealed to certain faculty and administrators who are in favor of having less athletes filling up the student population. Why would Bernard push this through and limit his fiefdom? It is because he doesn't care about these sports and he views them as a resource drain on the major sports. Every time I hear Bernard speak he talks about how Stanford is behind in facilities and spending and has lower budgets in many of the major sports. Thus, even though these cut 11 sports didn't have large budgets, he wants money focused on the remaining sports. That is why they are turning down alumni donations to keep these sports. They want the big donors to help build out a new weight room or something for football not to endow the wrestling team.  The flaw in his thinking however is that he is viewing donors to Stanford as a zero sum game. Someone who is going to endow fencing may have no interest in supporting other sports. I think Bernard made a miscalculation and the big fundraising campaign they are about to begin to bolster up the major sports is going to be harmed by pissing off so many alumni.