WEIS DIGS IN!!!!

Lafalum · Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 843

At a faculty meeting Weis states he will NOT cut faculty hires or salaries but will cut administrative staff and ATHLETICS. Word is this will be crippling cuts in the neighborhood of 10 pct this year and more for the next three years!! This is huge and may effect overall giving!!

One confidential source told me they were trying to think of ways that giving to athletics could be "redirected" I know most on this board just want to talk about xs' and os but this is serious!! This could turn into a dispute that made the scholarship issue a minor dissagreement!!

TheRock90 · Joined: 06 Aug 2007 Posts: 216 Location: Easton

Time for a regime change.

carney2 · Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Posts: 1173

Very discomforting news for this alumnus who finds the Athletic Department one of the few reliable ties left to alma mater. Is anyone thinking this through or is it just minus 10% across the board, regardless of the value of said athletic program to the College community? I say again, why does a school like Lafayette have/need 22 (my count) varsity athletic teams? That is an astounding 1 varsity team for every 110 students! And these are D-I programs, not student activities. To one degree or another, most of these athletes are selected and recruited. Other than the athletes themselves, what part of the College community is affected by the disbanding of fencing, or volleyball, or [fill in your favorite sacrificial lamb here]? Time for a reality check. Time to focus our limited resources on the activities that could make a difference to the quality of campus life, the enhancement of school spirit, and even the loosening of some wallets.

How exactly could they "redirect" funds given to the athletic programs?

Lafalum · Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 843

2008pards · Joined: 13 Aug 2008 Posts: 166

How about this idea? How about the teams that have been reported to turn back money (didn't I read in another post that close to $700k is returned every year) in to the Athletic Department actually keep and use that money to help fund better student/athletes?

Even a 10% haircut would still leave some serious dollars available to be utilized by the various teams. I know it may sound pollyanna-ish but does anyone care our teams are getting their brains beaten on a fairly consistent basis in the PL in most, not all, but most sports? Is Bruce McCutcheon a pawn or a player in the Admin department and is that even fair to ask considering all AD's have to be accountable to the pointy heads in Admin and to some degree the BOT?

When is enough enough? Who can go to Weis and/or the BOT and say "The football team is competitive as are the field hocket and men's soccer squads, but after that, we are lower tier in almost every other sport with no end in sight". And after that's said is there a collective yawn or are there passionate LC supporters in the room who really do care about the athletic as well as the academic reputation of the school?

Can Jim Fisher, Fred Kirby or Jack Bourger change hearts and minds or is it a waste of time to even hope something can be done to reverse the slide into mediocrity and hopelessness?

Lafalum · Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 843

The money returned is need based aid money. The 700 k you are talking about is the short fall if we were to go to football scholarships. In any case unused need based aid goes back to the college need based aid pool.
But you have point.
As to pawn or player. I'm leaning pawn.

carney2 · Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Posts: 1173

Lafalum · Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 843

[/quote]Stating the obvious:

Under this scenario there is virtually no incentive to contribute to the Maroon Club and/or any of the Friends organizations.

and

Once the contribution spicket is turned off, it will be very difficult to turn it back on.[/quote]

Here's how they operate, by cutting the budget of athletics they hope they get the athletic donors to up their contributions to make athletics whole. Therefore those donors are actually giving to support Danny's diversity dean, her husband, the BMW's for Danny and his wife and 35 faculty positions which will be used to put the faculty on a 2/2 schedule ( teaching two courses a semester instead of the present 3/2). The bottom line for the consumer/parents and students is that class sizes remain the same, tuuition continues to rise, and athletics continures to limp along.
The killer is THEY DON"T WANT ATHLETICS TO GO AWAY entirely because their donors will go away with them. That's why they will not cut the number of sports!!

Following up with the last BOT meeting the budget never got to the full BOT. It was discoverd that many in the BOT were unhappy. Weis apparently joked "Well I guess we'll get it from athletics"
The bottom line is, this leadership gave the running of the portfolio to one of their own, paid him 500,000 dollars a year through a subidiary ( Hollow Brook Assc) and he screwed up. They want someone or number of people to bail them out!!
This is one angry alumnus

Franks Tanks · Joined: 23 Mar 2007 Posts: 532

Weiss is turning into Rothkoph. This strategy and plan of action is virtually similar to his.

They want to cut athletics and chase out the fraternities. We are hiring a ton of profs and a worthless dean. When the dust settles we will still have a medicore ranking and crappy athletic teams. Oh and all students will be forced to live on campus insead of learning to live on their own in a frat or off campus house.

carney2 · Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Posts: 1173