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Volume CXXXII, Number 14 |
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Alpine skiing to be cut after 2003 season
SAMUEL C. DOWNING
STAFF WRITER
In a shock to the Bowdoin sports community, Director of Athletics Jeff Ward, announced late last week that Bowdoin is eliminating the alpine ski team. One of only a handful of Bowdoin sports that regularly competes in Division I, the team stars one of Bowdoin's top athletes, Siri Ashton, a sophomore who raced at the NCAA championships in Anchorage, Alaska, last year.
The centerpiece of a $200,000 departmental cut, the program's termination, expected by March, stunned Bowdoin's alpine skiers.
"It's far more than just a sport for us, it's a way of life, a part of who we are," said team captain Sarah Laverty '03.
President Barry Mills asked Ward to trim seven percent of his department's budget, which, like most areas of the College, is feeling the pinch of our financial situation.
Alpine skiing was targeted, Ward said, because it carries the highest cost-per-student of any varsity team, even if it had a full roster of only 20 students. The team's schedule also conflicts the most with the academic program, he said. Alpine skiing's total cost for the school, which does not pay for training trips, is $60,000, a figure comprised largely of the coach's salary.
Ward praised the alpine coach, saying, "Martin Wilson is a fine young coach, and to lose him is a loss for the whole College."
Wilson, who has worked as alpine skiing coach and part-time tennis coach during his five years at Bowdoin, will be out of a job by March 14. He said while he is thinking about his next step, he is more concerned about the future of Bowdoin's alpine skiers and about how they were treated in the process.
The way the athletics budgeting decisions were made, he said, "was exactly opposite of what we are trying to teach the kids here." The school and the athletics programs teach students honor, loyalty, and integrity, he said, and encourage students to take responsibility for decisions that affect them and their school. This time, he said, "When they did try and make themselves heard [about the athletics cuts], the response was almost patronizing."
Ward said he tried to contact senior coaches for advice, but ultimately he had to make the choices himself. "I had conversations with as many people as I could," he said, "but responsibility for the final decision was mine."
Ward said he understands why the team is angry. "This is a vital portion of their life. I understand and respect that a lot," he said.
Wilson and his top skier said that the administration led them on last year, claiming Ward guaranteed the continuation of the program through 2005.
"We got a verbal commitment that as long as Siri [Ashton] and her class were around, Ward would see the program through," Martin said,. "Ashton said she was curious about what Ward's reaction would be "when I remind him of that promise."
Ward did not deny making the commitment last year. However, he did say it was before he knew of the current budget crisis.
"My comments to them were in a different context," he said. "I had no sense that this budget cut was coming up. That's all I want to say."
Ashton also accused Ward and the administration of disregarding the personal effects that the cut would have on team members.
"It was really unfair and very unprofessionally done," she said. "They gave us no time to prepare ourselves emotionally. This is an enormous part of my life. I came to Bowdoin . . . excited to contribute to a growing program. It is devastating to have that taken away."
Even as Wilson worries about his own future, he is deeply concerned about the future of his racers, Ashton said.
"Martin is doing a whole hell of a lot," Ashton said. "He has been staying so strong to help us- his team-get through this." She says the school will miss his quiet positive outlook and deep knowledge of skiing.
"He is unbelievable, amazing. I have had a lot of different coaches in my career," she added. "He is most definitely the best I have ever had."
Laverty will graduate in the spring, but other racers are considering the possibility of transferring. Dean of Student Affairs Craig Bradley has begun inquiring as to whether students could compete with the Bates team, Laverty said. "He is becoming supportive in helping the kids on the team as he learns about their situations."
The bigger picture of the athletics budget is still a source of concern.
Ward said he worries about the health of athletics funding, but said he thinks Mills' commitment to keeping school admissions "need-blind" is extremely important.
"President Mills and the rest of the senior staff worked very hard to do this as fairly and as equitably as they could," he said, "and I really appreciate that."
"The decision was a very hard one to make," he said. "But the essential question is: could we do what we do effectively with a $200,000 budget cut?" The answer, said Ward, was a clear "No."
Because two thirds of the athletic budget pays the salaries of coaches and staff, he said, cutting the budget across the board, rather than eliminating an individual program, would have meant asking all coaches and athletic staff to take a pay cut.
The other budget cuts in athletics come from eliminating the training room intern position for next year and leaving the fourth assistant coaching position on the football team vacant after Phil Soule's retirement this year.
Ward noted he will try and make up cuts made earlier this year to the Leadership Training Program for team captains through grants and perhaps institutional resources.
"Athletics has a lot of educational messages and one of those is leadership," he said. "As long as I am athletic director, we will look at ways to facilitate that and strengthen it."
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