UC Berkeley

[Sarah'sMom]

I hope this is not against the rules to post this here, but I stumbled across the following in the USA gymnastics website and thought it might be interesting in this forum:

:: USA Gymnastics :: A Message from USA Gymnastics Regarding Cal Gymnastics Forever ::

 

[bpatient]

Two weeks and ten million dollars to go for Cal gymnastics

This message from Doug Nickle was distributed recently on behalf of the Cal sports reinstatement backers: “Just a brief message to let you know that we are absolutely still moving in the right direction. The University and the Chancellor's office have stated that our reinstatement efforts "now have their full attention." This is great news because they've also now finally started getting rather specific. They have stated that the number for reinstatement of all five programs is $25 million. While we disagree with them on the final number, we can comfortably say that we are at around $15 million in pledges toward what we think will be a number between $20-$25 million . . . “

The Chancellor also indicated, “[T]he uncertainty around the possibility of immediate reinstatement cannot be allowed to extend longer than January 31, 2011.”

While raising ten to fifteen million dollars in pledges (an amount equal to the total donor contributions to Cal athletics in a normal year) in a few months is an impressive achievement, this will still be very tough: Two weeks and ten million dollars to go.

 

[mpkbt]

Okay...I made my pledge. It wasn't much but it was something. I hope we can make a statement about our desire to keep the sport of gymnastics in college. I am really hoping to support the men's gymnastics, they have so few programs.

 

[bpatient]

Okay...I made my pledge. It wasn't much but it was something

Me, too--I suppose every little bit helps.

FWIW, most of the money raised has come in support of the baseball team (it seems that there are more millionaire baseball alums than millionaire former gymnasts), but to remain in compliance with Title IX it's clear that women's lacrosse and women's gymnastics, at minimum, would also have to be reinstated to allow the return of baseball; the future of men's gymnastics (and rugby) seems even more at risk, then, than does the future of women's gymnastics at CAL--despite the long and successful history of the men's gymnastics program.

 

[bpatient]

Cal Women's Gymnastics survives the cut

The Chancellor of UC Berkeley announced today that women's gymnastics and lacrosse, and men's rugby will return as varsity sports, while men's gymnastics and baseball will be eliminated as a cost-saving measure. All five sports had been cut last fall, but that ran afoul of Title IX: Because it's impossible to claim that a university which has just eliminated two women's varsity sports has fully and effectively accommodated the interest and abilities of women in sports, Cal would have been forced to rely on changing the rosters of the remaining sport to reflect the student body (with the elimination of the five sports, only 40% of athletes are female, compared to 53% of the student body.) Achieving compliance would require the elimination of about 80 men's roster spots from the remaining sports and the addition of about 50 women.

Here's the statement from the Chancellor.

This move allows Cal to save some money (rugby is essentially self-supporting; the other sports are not), remain in compliance with Title IX and thus retain eligibility for federal funding (although without actually increasing athletic options for women), and perhaps use that land currently occupied by the baseball stadium for some other purpose.

(Sorry if this is a double post. My previous effort never appeared; Chalkbucket has gone a bit wacky in recent days.

 

[BlairBob]

the problem will be in getting many of the pledges to pay out since they pledged for all 5 or men's gymnastics in particular. the men's team is still trying to fundraise.

 

[bpatient]

BlairBob, do you have a feel for the percentage of the money pledged in support of Cal gymnastics that was specifically designated for support of the men's team? When I pledged on-line, I don't think there was any space to indicate that I wanted my money to go to gymnastics in general or to the men's or the women's program in particular.

It seems that the continuing existence of the women's program has much less to do with fundraising than with maintaining compliance with Title IX; the men's program, though, apparently would have to be (as the rugby program will be) essentially self sufficient--how much would that take? I think that Cal Gymnastics Forever's goal was to secure about $2 million in pledges, and nearly $900,000 was pledged; since the chancellor wrote, "The requirements for continuation called for philanthropic commitments to ensure that the teams would be self-funding for seven to 10 years while a plan is built to secure long term funding," how much of a dent would the men's program's share of that $900,000 pledge total make in the amount required to sustain the men's team?

 

[BlairBob]

I believe CalGymnasticsForever had a target of 1 million dollars. Some of the pledges were for all 5 sports to be reinstated. Yep, Title9 is what really was at hand.

Looking at the club and names that pledged shows the support of the MAG community for Cal's Men program. Also the amount of emails I came across looking for support for them in their fundraising efforts.

Honestly, just cut out some of the team numbers and scholarships.

 

[bpatient]

Still time to save the Cal men's team: March update

The Cal men's team can still be saved if sufficient funds can be raised. An update is available here:

Cal Gymnastics Forever

The men's team wasn't restored when the fundraising/Title IX situation was resolved earlier this year--but there's still hope.

 

[BlairBob]

Yeah, I just got an email that they are up to 1.5 million but only have till mid April. I've also heard the AD has asked for a lot more than what would be required in some opinions.

 

[bpatient]

Yeah, I just got an email that they are up to 1.5 million but only have till mid April. I've also heard the AD has asked for a lot more than what would be required in some opinions.

Baseball was just reinstated--the team raised the required amount. (There may be more millionaires among the baseball alums than among the gymnasts.) However, the gymnastics team has now raised almost TWO million dollars--about half of what they need.

Good luck to them today when, as the third-ranked team in the country, they enter the NCAA men's gymnastics championships in what could be their final meet.