Editor’s Note: Fighting Back!

By Phillip Whitten

(We are publishing Phillip Whitten's editorial from the April 2001 issue of SWIMMING WORLD on our web site. This decision comes after we have received scores of requests asking us to make this important article available to as large an audience as possible.)

THE announcement on March 5 came like a bolt from the blue: After more than 70 years, the University of Kansas was axing it’s men’s swimming program. Swimming wasn’t the only victim: men’s tennis, too, had its head on the chopping block.

The rationales offered by KU Athletic Director Bob Frederick for his precipitous action were familiar ones, and in that fact lies the seed of hope. There just wasn’t enough money to support a quality program, he opined; and KU’s facilities were out-dated, not good enough to attract quality athletes.

In both process and substance, the Kansas decision eerily echoed last year’s decision by the University of Washington, a decision that was reversed by the effective action of students, parents, alumni buttressed by the active help of this magazine. In fact, the Washington swim community was able to turn a looming disaster into an opportunity: when all was said and done, the university, with the participation of a now-organized alumni group, had rededicated itself to a quality program and committed to building a new, state-of-the-art facility.

Though time is short, the same opportunity exists in Kansas. As we went to press, the KU swim community was being galvanized, led by senior Rob Kelley, a backstroker who heads the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, and Dr. Ron Neugent, a 1970s-vintage KU distance ace who once held an American record. Through Kelley’s efforts, the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee voted unanimously to support the swim and tennis programs and even the head football coach has come out in favor of retaining the programs. More action—by students and alums—is planned. Support from the larger, U.S. swimming community is welcomed. See swiminfo.com for regular updates.

The rationales offered by Fredericks, echoing his forebears at Washington, are amazingly flimsy. Here are some examples:

· The Athletic Director said there was not enough money to pay for the swim program which accounts for some $300,000 – $400,000 out of KU’s $21.7 million athletic budget)(1.4%). Yet the A.D. never bothered to ask swim alums to help foot the bill for the program. Alumni elsewhere were able to rise to the occasion when asked. KU alums are now trying to raise an endowment of $3.75 million to fund the swim program indefinitely.

· The A.D. claims Kansas’ facilities are inadequate to run a competitive program. Yet the women’s program was not cut. Are we to understand that the facilities are adequate for women but inadequate for men?

· KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway is publicly committed to having students who embody the ideal of the "student-athlete." Swimmers consistently have grade point averages that not only are the highest in the athletic department, but also are higher than non-athletes. Likewise, the Chancellor has stated his desire to increase diversity on campus with outstanding scholars from various ethnic groups. Eight of the 34 athletes on the swim and tennis teams—24 percent—are minority students; all are fine scholars

The list goes on and on, particularly in the financial area. For example, the school has seven—count ‘em, seven—associate and assistant A.D.’s. There’s an area ripe for budget-cutting pruning.

There is reason to believe that the Kansas situation can be salvaged. But it is indicative of a disturbing trend by universities in which Olympic sports—particularly men’s Olympic sports—are sacrificed on the altar of football and basketball, even when these "revenue sports" are losing money, as is most often the case. Wrestling has been reduced drastically; there are 30 Div. I schools offering men’s gymnastics versus 139 just over a decade ago. And swimming has been under attack at UCLA, Iowa State, Illinois, New Mexico, Northern Arizona, Miami, Washington, James Madison and San Francisco State to name but a few. Some of those programs have been saved, some lost.

The swimming community must unite to fight back and save our sport at the collegiate level.
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