By Colleen Lillig
Despite major budget cuts at University of California campuses, the statewide system is still looking for ways to fill large remaining deficits and athletics have become the newest victim.
On April 16, UC Davis announced on April 16 that it was eliminating four sports to help fill a $1.4 million deficit, according to ucdavis.edu.
Women’s rowing, wrestling, men’s indoor track and field, and, most recently, men’s swimming and diving were all eliminated.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported Davis is expecting to save $2.9 million over the next three years by eliminating these four sports, while will affect 153 students. Seven coaches will lose their jobs.
With four sports already terminated for the upcoming year, Davis has cut more athletics than any other UC. But it is not alone.
UC Irvine and UC Santa Cruz are looking into similar options as a last resort to save money.
Irvine Athletic Director Mike Izzi released a statement on July 29, 2009, announcing the elimination of men’s and women’s swimming and diving, men’s and women’s rowing, and sailing.
Cal High athletes looking to take their abilities onto collegiate athletics are being affected by the numerous sports being cut. Junior Delise Batiza, who is being recruited for swimming by UC Berkeley and USC, shares concern for the amount of sports being cut.
“Programs getting cut is a sign of them not having enough money,” said Delise. “And I want to go to a school that can support me in swimming and in academics.”
Santa Cruz was among the first to cut sports back in 2008. Both the men’s and women’s water polo teams were eliminated.
Water Polo parents offered administrative athletic officials Linda Spradley and Ryan Andrews a $32,000 grant to support the program for the next four years, but the athletic officials declined the money, according to cityonahillpress.com.
Santa Cruz is allowing the incoming freshmen that committed to play water polo to keep any scholarships for up to a year while they try to transfer to another intercollegiate team to play.
“It didn’t used to be that one of the first questions you asked when looking at a school is if they have a solid program,” said senior Natalie Meltzer, who is swimming for UCSD next year. “But now that’s the first thing you want to make sure of.”
According to californiawatch.org, UCSD is one of the few UCs not even considering cutting any sports programs. In fact, the school is possibly going to add a football team and move from Division II to Division I.
Unfortunately, many UCs have not had the same options as San Diego. It doesn’t seem likely that any of these sports programs will return to the schools in the near future.
