UCD Students May Sue College Over Sports Cuts

March 14, 2011 11:42 PM

Filed under

Related tags

DAVIS, Calif. (CBS13) — Student athletes who were sidelined when four sports programs fell victim to budget cuts are raising allegations of financial mismanagement and threatening a lawsuit.

The UC Davis Office of the President says an independent investigation cleared administrators of any wrongdoing in the process that led to the end of men’s swimming and diving, wrestling, indoor track and field, and women’s rowing at the end of the last academic year. Many of the student athletes who filed a grievance against the school for the decision rejected the conclusions.

Zach Hansen, a former swimmer in the UC Davis program, said school leaders are out of touch and said the decision to cut the sports was made in secret, “violating many of our own procedures.”

“They did it behind closed doors, and the people who were supposed to be involved were kept out,” Hansen said.

He said some students are now considering a lawsuit against the university on the grounds that student funds aren’t being handled properly.

Hansen cited the $4,000 price tag on the new office furniture and carpet for the school’s associate athletics director and senior women’s administrator as an example. UC Davis officials say the director changed offices to handle new responsibilities and called the cost typical for an annual renovation.

“There’s new carpet, there’s new furniture, they threw out the old carpet and old furniture the previous person used for several years,” Hansen said. “Apparently he didn’t have a problem with it.”

Some students said they are concerned that more budget cuts for next year could put more athletic programs on the chopping block again.

School officials won’t know how much they have to cut from their budget until state lawmakers pass a budget for the coming year.

UCD Students May Sue College Over Sports Cuts

CB6352

WELCOME TO TITLE 9. A FLAWED AND BIASED RULE. ALL COLLEGE SPORTS SHOULD BE RUN ON PROFIT MARGIN. IN THER WORDS THEY PAY THEIR OWN WAY. FOOTBALL AND BASKETBALL FUNDS IT SELF. WHILE MINOR SPORTS THAT FEW WATCH OR ASPIRE LIKE A HOOVER SUCK FUNDS OUT OF THESE TO FUND THOSE PROGRAMS. HENCE TITLE 9 BEIND A SEXUALLY BIASED LAW HAS CAUSED MOST OF THE PROBLEMS. AS LESSER MONEY COMES IN MORE PROGRAMS WILL BE CUT. WELCOME TO THE NEW AGE OF POLITICAL BIAS LIKE AFFIRMATIVE ACTION!

Jack Chavez

I agree! If you can’t fund yourself then pay dues or hold bake sales. Stop crying and expecting everyone else to pay your way.
youfail

LOL, oh yeah.. damn those women’s rights. Damn affirmative action, I hate racial equality. You need to crawl under a rock and die.

CWarnke

Ok, So lets not discuss that NOW has effectively enabled the victimization of women for years, has caused the degradation of education to males through the modification of education to a form that is now tailored to girls AT THE EXPENSE of boys, and has virtually immasculated men to the point that “MetroSexual” is actually a compliment.

Lets instead looks at the original point. Mens sports Make money to a far greater degree than womens. Cutting a potentially profitable Mens sport in order to keep an unprofitable womens sport is actually doing more harm in the long run, since now those athletes, who might not have been able to afford an education otherwise and are on scholarship, now are stuck leaving school and potentially falling prey to poverty.

If this is too much of a stretch, lets look at it from a constitutional standpoint. What right does the federal government have to determine the sports program of a state run school, based on the Tenth ammendment of th econstitution. where is “interstate Commerce” in the whole scheme of college athletics, as interstate commerce was originally defined in the constitution and described in the Federalist papers?

If a school can attract women athletes by providing sports thats Great and a competitive advantage for that school. However, forcing additional athletics to be shutdown because you must provide for equality in athletics programs, no matter if they pay for themselves or not, is ridiculous.

At some point original intent and basic logic must come into play. That is unless liberal politics are involved.
aj

When the rule is applied to give ANY group an advantage (for whatever the reason) its not equal anymore..

Swing and a miss.

Fanny Forbes Franklen

Anyone that thinks sports is an important endeavor is a degenerate.

It’s a game that adults pretend to be children. I don’t want to pay for it and through taxes it’s taken at force just the same way the incompetents, the teachers, are paid. — http://911essentials.com
Richard P

The most financially successful school in the country is the University of Phoenix. How many sports teams do they have?
Bupkus

Headhunt23

They have a stadium!

Ryan C

Correction: They bought a name on a stadium…sorry. Best of luck with that UoPhx diploma post grad…

Alethea

Yes you can buy your degree there… not earn it. What is your point?

J Beck

It’s a shame, and this happens not only at the college level, but at every level around the country. Instead of trimming budgets in a common sense manner, the unions demand that their needs are met, as well as certain pet projects (the LGBT programs certainly won’t be touched at any of these liberal run schools), at the expense of what’s best for the students.

Sports have value, certainly more value than the extra aide that the unions demand to have for making coffee. God forbid they dirty their hands with coffee grains…or checking papers…or miss out on their various seminars in vacation spots around the globe…
Mike

Who says you need college sports anyways. If anything, they should be club teams where the athletes pay expenses. Who really cares about these teams anyways. Those administrators are disgusting too, why new furniture? Its sports at UC Davis!!! No one cares only the ones involved do. Get a metal table, it will last a centurie. In this day and age, if it isn’t helping the bottom line, get rid of it.
EMB

I agree. And what about making them club sports or giving the teams the opportunity to raise funds to keep the sports going.?
smokehouse56

This is sooooooo funny. Liberals talking about cutting money. You liberals on this comment page are hilarious. You make fools of yourselves. ROTFLMAO!!
Law2001

Separation of government and edcuation.
Start by making all funding for sports, PE, etc. voluntary!
DWF

The fact that they have a rule to artificially make cuts in specific programs in order to keep everything “equal” (Title IV), like affirmative action for almost anything else, isn’t equal.

On another angle (that is admitedly a bit mutually exclusive from the above statement), this is just like Music and Art programs in elementary school. They are the foundation of creativity and balance out the 1′s and 0′s of most other subjects. Don’t get me wrong, I was a science person, But I see the need for other subjects, one of the reasons I went to a liberal arts school.

Sports are the same way, if we only support basketball and football (the 2 sports prominently cited in the above article) because ticket sales and donations are the only deciding factor, then why is swimming the number one most watched and highest demand olympic sport worldwide AND for americans? I guess nobody cares until Michael Phelps starts touching out a Croatian in the 100 fly. I guess that justifies us having to buy our own meet suits and warmups but the Football team got 3 sets for each player (I use the term loosely as many never have any actual game time)..EACH YEAR.

-Former College Swimmer from a Division I school.
d

wonder if it has anything to do with prop 9 and the article failed to mention it
Matador85

What is the value of the Aggie women’s basketball team being a part of the NCAA Div. I Tournament facing the #2 team in the country Stanford which should be on ESPN? Media exposure plus the money share out of the tournament helps all on campus. Not everybody knows that UCD has one of the best programs in the country for horses. Even better than the Univ. of Kentucky. Sports = unpaid publicity.
http://offthebench.nbcsports.com/2011/03/15/uc-davis-cut-four-sports-progams-while-athletics-administration-redecorated/ UC Davis cut four sports progams while athletics administration redecorated? | Off the Bench

[...] UCD Students May Sue College Over Sports Cuts [CBS Sacramento] Skip to Comments Tweet Email Older » If the NCAA Tournament were [...]
John McAlexander

I know the underwater chess players are totally devastated that their funds have been cut – why not cut American History instead – no wait a minute that has been gone since the 60 – how about California History – no that was cut because it was too racist – you get the picture.

Larry B Wittenborn

we used to be a nation of ( we earn our way) now we are a nations of( i will sue you) we don’t need more bronze running our country we need more brains

sheilaL

WOMEN SPORTS PROGRAMS ARE NOTHING MORE THAN A FREE EDUCATION FOR ATHLETES AND A MONEY LOSER FOR THE INSTITUTION. WOMEN SPORTS ARE NOT SUPPORTED IN THE REAL WORLD AS THEY CANNOT COMPETE AGAINST MENS-THE BEST WOMEN ATHELETES IN ANY SPORT WOULD NOT EVEN MAKE THE TEAM IN THE SAME MENS SPORTS!

Kate

sheilaL, seriously? You really are a loser. Will you tell your daughter one day that she’s not as good as a man? Your logic is incorrect and you have no proof. You should be ashamed of yourself.

Marty

Kate, he speaks the truth. Although there are a few exceptions, like tennis and volleyball, womens sports at all levels, are a money loser. Don’t get mad, just know the truth.

Anna

Almost all sports are money losers at universities. At most universities, football and/or basketball programs are the only ones that bring in revenue.

aj

Until they spend a very large portion of that “revenue” on marketing, admin salaries and new stadiums that weren’t needed yet

Mark Vecchiarelli

Just4Schools.com is helping schools and univerities to raise funds for sports, arts, clubs and academics using a web based fundraising tool. We are NCAA compliant – case # 949504. Have your adminstrator sign up – it’s free. San Benito HS has signed up, Foothill/DeAnza has committed, Harker has committed, the San Jose Diocese is reviewing. Contact us, we can help: markv@hvholdingcompany.com
Marty

Mens sports are expendable, because they are men. But these wimpy college students will vote democrat because they think they are saving the planet or something.
Elbee

Any activity that does not bring a return on investment should not exist. Let all such activities be intramural, or let those who desire to participate pay for them. Certainly there are alumni who could sponsor scholarships.
The only reason some female activities, in particular, exist is because the national government decreed this unfunded mandate.

aj

I’m not against this, as its already the case for most swimming and diving teams.

400lb guys aren’t “athletes” as much as the NFL tries to convince me.

GD from VA

I don’t understand America today. We have states poised on the brink of bankruptcy and students are suing because a university can’t afford their sports program. That makes a lot of sense! Take a university that has to make cuts to meet the reality of their current financial situation and make them spend thousands (or millions) of dollars responding to lawsuits filed by “students” who feel entitled to something more than an education.
http://botd.wordpress.com/2011/03/16/top-posts-1781/ Top Posts — WordPress.com

[...] UCD Students May Sue College Over Sports Cuts [worldnow id=5660154 width=385 height=288 type=video] DAVIS, Calif. (CBS13) — Student athletes who were sidelined [...] [...]
Ron

Poor little panty waist students who are used to getting everything they want without putting anything into it (not being taxpayers). Why don’t these free loaders go out and get a job and then they will understand why the taxpayers are mad as heck over being taxed to much to pay for these panty waist college programs.

aj

you know its spelled waste right?

I guess I see why you’re so mad about people having secondary education…

SR

Especially students who are freeloading…”student” athletes get the best of everything at the cost of nothing. Of course they will be our future used car salesmen, so perhaps we should be kind.
John Galt

If the administration would cut back size, pensions, and pay, perhaps sports would stand a chance. Too many people on the take and not enough going into the cause. This is probably more educational (real world stuff) than they will ever learn from a liberal professor. Good Luck California, you are going to need it after that last election!
Scuba equipment yoke din

Diving accreditation. And so the question is, how come you have to train via courses of instruction for scuba diving you’ll want to get yourself a scuba qualification.365 day return guarantee