Student Senate’s official stance regarding the addition of men’s baseball to the UW-Eau Claire athletics budget is that it would not be fiscally responsible, according to a March 7 press release.
In the release, Student Body President Dylan Jambrek said, “Personally, I’m a fan of baseball and understand the interest. However, we can’t bring it back due to budgetary issues and Title IX concerns.”
Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 required intercollegiate athletic programs to provide equal opportunity for men and women.
Since the sport was originally cut in 1995, discussions about bringing it back have risen periodically. Talks began anew last semester when junior Ben Krings, a member of the team, spoke before Student Senate during Open Forum. He then wrote an editorial in The Spectator about his opinion, and more recently, wrote an editorial for the Leader-Telegram.
However, little materialized from it, so Krings decided to approach student senators again. This time he sent an e-mail on Feb. 28 pleading for a student survey or a forum to gauge the campus’s opinion on the issue.
Krings said senate responded to him by saying they would send a few representatives to talk with the Athletic Director, Scott Kilgallon, about the issue. Then, the next thing Krings heard was through the press release, and he said he was very displeased to see them take nearly the exact same stance as Kilgallon.
“I don’t have very good words for it,” Krings said. “It was mostly negative, I thought. I know for a fact it was pretty much all what Kilgallon said. (They) are student senators, it’s not faculty or anything like that. …I wasn’t very happy.”
Student Body Vice President Phil Rynish attended the discussions along with Jambrek, and said Title IX stipulations were a major factor in the decision.
“There is a lot of support for baseball on campus, including in Student Senate, and in the community,” Rynish said. “Unfortunately, it is not always possible to have things that we all support.”
The baseball team is almost entirely supported by fundraising, Krings said, and the team only pays about $220 out of pocket for uniforms.
Even if significant fundraising for baseball occurred, Kilgallon pointed out that the Athletics Department already has to fundraise $100,000-$130,000 a year just to meet basic operating costs. He added that it is important to keep in mind that the funding needs to be sustainable from year to year.
Kilgallon also said that baseball is not the only club team that has made inquiries about becoming a varsity sport and said the lacrosse, rugby, men’s soccer, men’s volleyball and cheerleading teams all have made similar requests.
“To be clear, if we were in a perfect world whereby budgets and resources were not an issue, the Athletics Department, University and Student Senate would support adding sports to meet all students’ interests,” Kilgallon said.
UW-Eau Claire is already tied with UW-Whitewater for the most varsity sports among WIAC schools, Rynish said, and then added that the department is well-funded in its current form. Regardless of what happens, Rynish says he appreciates Krings’ efforts.
“I admire the drive that the individuals have shown in supporting an issue they care about and I really wish we were in a situation in which they could be helped,” Rynish said. “The fact of the matter is however, that we simply are not. Falling out of Title IX compliance would put us in violation of a federal mandate.”
Rynish said senate is open to the idea of having a campus-wide discussion, but added that it wouldn’t change the Title IX compliance issue.
Krings said he feels an open forum would still be nice to see regardless of Title IX issues. He thinks student senators are doing a poor job of representing him as a student, and that they are just “throwing it on the back-burner.”
He added that although these latest developments have him a bit discouraged, he is not giving up his efforts by any means.
“I am not saying that I want baseball back this year or next year … I just want to get something rolling,” Krings said. “I’ve done all this work and wrote all these letters, but I mean, I guess the thing to do is to just keep going after it.”
