[martyup]

At the behest of 36SportsStrong, I sent emails to the top officials at Stanford urging them to reconsider their decision to cancel 11 sports.  Here is the response I received from Howard Wolf:

As the university's Vice President for Alumni Affairs and the President of the Stanford Alumni Association, I have been asked by Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne, Provost Persis Drell, Athletics Director Bernard Muir and the Office of the Board of Trustees to respond to your email below. 
 
Thanks for taking the time and effort to share your thoughts and feelings with us. I very much appreciate you doing so and wish more Stanford alumni would do the same when they are disappointed with decisions the university makes and actions it takes. Thanks for being a part of this important feedback loop.
 
Most importantly, I thank you for expressing your deep sadness over the painful decision we made to discontinue 11 varsity sports at Stanford. As a Stanford alum myself (and a former student-athlete in a so-called “Olympic Sport”), this decision has similarly saddened me deeply for all the reasons you and others have shared about the importance of Stanford’s intercollegiate, varsity athletics program. 
 
As the announcement shared, the Athletics Department, in concert with others in leadership roles at Stanford, evaluated numerous solutions to address the large-scale, systemic financial problems that have faced the Athletics Department for years. At the end of the day, the discontinuation of these 11 sports was deemed the most viable solution to right the budget. 

We are very aware of the recommendations proposed by 36 Sports Strong and the gifts pledged to date for various sports.  At the same time, we are also faced with the reality that the actual amount to permanently endow the 11 discontinued varsity sports is more than $200 million. And this does not include the $380 million in funding needed for the remaining 25 varsity programs to ensure their competitiveness on a national level. Despite Stanford’s tremendous success in past fundraising campaigns, this combined goal of $580 million for Athletics was deemed infeasible based on extensive analysis of the university’s fundraising prospects.

Please know that I will be sharing your sentiments with the president and provost as representative of what we have been hearing from some of our alumni. Thanks, again, for sharing your thoughts and concerns with us. I very much appreciate your engagement and welcome any further questions you may have.

It seems that they are still contending that this was a financial decision.  It also seems that they are moving the goal posts here, claiming that $580 million must be raised to save the 11 sports.  If they make it just about money, I like 36SportsStrong's chances of prevailing.

[martyup]

At the behest of 36SportsStrong, I sent emails to the top officials at Stanford urging them to reconsider their decision to cancel 11 sports.  Here is the response I received from Howard Wolf:

As the university's Vice President for Alumni Affairs and the President of the Stanford Alumni Association, I have been asked by Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne, Provost Persis Drell, Athletics Director Bernard Muir and the Office of the Board of Trustees to respond to your email below. 
 
Thanks for taking the time and effort to share your thoughts and feelings with us. I very much appreciate you doing so and wish more Stanford alumni would do the same when they are disappointed with decisions the university makes and actions it takes. Thanks for being a part of this important feedback loop.
 
Most importantly, I thank you for expressing your deep sadness over the painful decision we made to discontinue 11 varsity sports at Stanford. As a Stanford alum myself (and a former student-athlete in a so-called “Olympic Sport”), this decision has similarly saddened me deeply for all the reasons you and others have shared about the importance of Stanford’s intercollegiate, varsity athletics program. 
 
As the announcement shared, the Athletics Department, in concert with others in leadership roles at Stanford, evaluated numerous solutions to address the large-scale, systemic financial problems that have faced the Athletics Department for years. At the end of the day, the discontinuation of these 11 sports was deemed the most viable solution to right the budget. 

We are very aware of the recommendations proposed by 36 Sports Strong and the gifts pledged to date for various sports.  At the same time, we are also faced with the reality that the actual amount to permanently endow the 11 discontinued varsity sports is more than $200 million. And this does not include the $380 million in funding needed for the remaining 25 varsity programs to ensure their competitiveness on a national level. Despite Stanford’s tremendous success in past fundraising campaigns, this combined goal of $580 million for Athletics was deemed infeasible based on extensive analysis of the university’s fundraising prospects.

Please know that I will be sharing your sentiments with the president and provost as representative of what we have been hearing from some of our alumni. Thanks, again, for sharing your thoughts and concerns with us. I very much appreciate your engagement and welcome any further questions you may have.

It seems that they are still contending that this was a financial decision.  It also seems that they are moving the goal posts here, claiming that $580 million must be raised to save the 11 sports.  If they make it just about money, I like 36SportsStrong's chances of prevailing.