Wilson Responds to Cuts

On Wednesday, Cal State Northridge President Blenda J. Wilson issued a four-page statement in response to the intense public scrutiny the school received after dropping four men’s sports last week. Wilson said the controversy “represents a ‘teachable moment’ for me personally.” Here are excerpts from Wilson’s statement:

. . .On the day the decision was announced, a university spokesman mistakenly stated that I was not available for comment. . . . I apologize to the university community, coaches and student athletes and to the community at large that I was not personally present to convey the athletics decision and to express the regret and compassion which accompanied it. . . .

The budget projections that were presented to the students in January 1995 promised that Cal State Northridge could participate in postseason competition, continue all of its sports, make progress on the CAL/NOW agreement, by adding women’s soccer, and meet the modest American West Conference requirements. . . . That promise was recanted not by dishonesty or poor planning but by the advance of history. The American West Conference disbanded in May 1996. . . .

The subsequent invitation from the Big Sky Conference refueled the hopes of competitive conference opportunities for student athletes. . . . Despite the expansion and the university’s commitment to gender equity, the budget projection reviewed by the Division of the Student Affairs confirmed that increased guarantees, fund-raising, and gate receipts would be sufficient to support our conference participation. . . .

In 1997, all of us were proven wrong. Several teams were surprisingly successful and participated in postseason play, which generated additional costs; the Big Sky equalized salaries for male and female officials, driving those expenses up, travel costs were higher both for Big Sky teams and our independent baseball team, the fund-raising and ticket revenue expectations fell short. . . .

When I was informed about the athletics budget deficit for this spring . . . I requested a revised balanced athletic department budget and program based on actual 1996-97 revenues and expenditures. The revised budget was the basis upon which the decision to eliminate several men’s sports was made. . . .

Others might have made different decisions with different consequences. Fans naturally oppose any decision to drop their preferred sport. The suggestion that we could have chosen to drop football does not take into account that eliminating one of the Big Sky Conference sports would have put an end to conference play for all [Northridge] Big Sky teams, both men’s and women’s. We made the choice to preserve conference participation for the largest number of student athletes. Time will tell if this was the best choice. . . .