Sonoma State kills athletic department, some education programs
Sonoma State fights to save athletic department
Facing a $24 million budget deficit, Sonoma State University is ending all eleven of its sports programs and cutting out or rolling back other programs and people, and on Friday, meetings were held on campus where students and instructors vented their angst and anger.
ROHNERT PARK, Calif. - Facing a $24 million budget deficit, Sonoma State University is ending all eleven of its sports programs and cutting out or rolling back other programs and people, and on Friday, meetings were held on campus where students and instructors vented their angst and anger.
For many people at the college, it seems that the administration is amputating parts of the body to save the ailing patient; a patient that won't be the same afterwards.
"Number one: we want to try and save Sonoma athletics," said Marcus Ziemer, head coach of Men’s Soccer.
With virtually no notice, Sonoma State University administrators announced massive cuts by email saying it's to "best serve its current and future students and adapt to a changing higher education landscape." A lot is at stake.
On the chopping block, all eleven sports programs, coaches, 46 other faculty members, lecturer positions and some staff. On top of that, programs being eliminated include: art history, dance, earth and environmental sciences, economics, French, gender studies, philosophy, theater and women's studies.
"We don't really know the full scope of the cuts at this time, but it's going to be really tremendous and we are very concerned. But, we're also committing to fight for this university and fight for the students," said faculty member Professor Ron Lopez.
"We believe, behind the scenes, they may be trying to close this campus," said Assistant Men’s Soccer Coach Benjamin Ziemer.
The main reason: a decade-long decline in enrollment by thirty-eight percent means the loss of a lot of tuition, scholarships and grants.
Darwin created the theory of evolution; the gradual change in things, but what Sonoma State got was an unannounced meteor strike that took out faculty, took out coaches, took out student athletes and a lot more.
"I moved my family here six months ago, five months ago, and that was a significant decision for us, and we did it because we believe in this athletic department," said Coach Jacob Garsez.
"We won a national championship, the women won a national championship. We have records, we have the history, we have the Hall of Fame. It's just gone; taken from us," said Ziemer.
It's devastating for student athletes.
"I find it really disrespectful how this whole situation has been handled. They made us come back to campus, pay tuition, pay housing leases for us to find out on the second day of school that we're no longer going to have a program," said student athlete Taylor Hodges.
"You just can't come in and just break apart a family that has been rooted here," said student athlete Johnny Sprague.
"I even have [non-athlete] roommates that are telling me…'Oh, we don't want to come back here,'" said student athlete Avery Kratz.
While it's true that Sonoma State's athletic prowess is not that of big school super teams, it was good enough to earn former 49er and Dallas Cowboy Larry Allen a place in the NFL Hall of Fame.