Tribe athletes protest cuts
William & Mary athletes are making their voices heard in large numbers in opposition to the school’s decision to cut seven sports after the 2020-21school year.
More than 100 from the sports affected — men’s and women’s swimming, men’s indoor and outdoor track, men’s and women’s gymnastics and women’s volleyball — stood outside the William & Mary Alumni House on Wednesday in support of several dozen others inside who spoke to the school’s Board of Visitors about their opposition.
The 72 who spoke included alumni, parents of current and former athletes and faculty, pushing an event scheduled for 90 minutes to well over two hours. This came a day after the school’s Student Assembly passed a Senate Resolution that made a “call for respect of W&Mvalues, transparency and accountability” from the school and Athletic Director Samantha Huge.
“Tome, the resolution is a means of pointing out the hypocrisy and how they’ve handled this entire situation, howit’s gone against Tribe values and everything they stand for,” said Conor Sokolowsky, W&M’s sophomore class president.
The resolution bears more than 1,000 signatures, including athletes from virtually every sport. Athletic alumni, current and former coaches, students, alumni, faculty and staff also signed.
Several speakers on Wednesday criticized the athletic department letter announcing the cuts for “plagiarism” because significant portions of it contained the same wording as Stanford’s announcement in July that it was cutting 11 sports. W&M President Katherine Rowe — whose signature wasonthe letter with Huge’s and Provost Peggy Agouris — addressed the issue of “repeating language from another institution’s announcement”
in a statement earlier in the day.
“The main purpose of consultation was to ensure the utmost clarity and compassion in communicating very distressing news,” Rowe said of W&M communicating with Stanford and other colleges that had eliminated sports. “That said, words representing William & Mary should come from William & Mary.
“As president, I am accountable for the review process that should have ensured this. As the leader of our learning and research community, it is my responsibility to make certain this situation does not occur again.
“I want to underscore Director Huge’s earlier statement affirming integrity as paramount for the success of the university as a whole and athletics specifically. I have expressed to Director Hugethat her top priority for athletics going forward needs to be restoring trust.”
Rowe has hired Gen. Jim Golden, W&M’s long-time former vice president for strategic initiatives and assistant to the president, to assist Huge with strategic communications.
Sokolowsky, who is also a swimmer, was among 48 connected with that sport who spoke on Wednesday. Several addressed the fact that the men’s and women’s swimming program could now essentially fund itself after raising more than $1 million since the school announced on Sept. 3 it would drop the sport.
Some swimmers inside and outside the Alumni House expressed disappointment that Huge told them this past school year that the sport would not be cut.
“We’re really angry and upset because we had multiple meetings with her and she confirmed we would not be cut,” sophomore swimmer Kim Jogis said. “We raised more money this year than our team costs.
“It’s completely unjustified, so we’re very upset. It’s all about ‘One Tribe, One Family’ and we don’t feel like we’re part of the family anymore, so it’s all upsetting.
“I think it shows if we raised a million dollars in two weeks, we’re not going to back down. It shows how passionate we are about this.”
Men’s gymnast Reid Ross said, “People out here are trying to show there is support against the decision. At first, it was a little bit of a shock because there was no warning coming with the decision and there was a little bit of frustration that came with it.
“We’re frustrated, we’re sad and we’re bothered, and we want to switch the decision if we can.”
The Board of Visitors will meet at 8:30 a.m. today at the Alumni House. It remains to be seen if athletic cuts are part of the discussion.