University of Virginia Library

Club Sports Face Difficult Funding Problems

Commentary

By BARBARA HAND

(The following story is the
last of a two-part series
examining club sports and their
financing. Though there is no
clear-cut answer to how to
alleviate the financial
difficulties, it is necessary to
let the University community
know that the present club
sport financing is not meeting
the needs of the students.)

University club sports are
currently in financial straits as
the Athletic Department and
Student Council continue to
disagree as to who should
provide the funds necessary for
the clubs continued existence.

Presently, Student Council
finances the club sports,
though Vice President Larry
Sabato said, "We believe this
would be the job of the
Athletic Department."

To put pressure on the
Athletic Department this year
to finance the clubs, Student
Council cut back funds to the
groups by either one-third or
two-thirds, depending how
closely related the club is to
the Athletic Department.

Instead of favorably
responding to the pressure, the
Athletic Department continues
to insist that it does not have
the finances to carry the extra
burden of club sports.

"I just don't see how the
Athletic Department could just
step in and take over at this
time," commented University
athletic director Gene
Corrigan.

Since the Athletic
Department and Student
Council can not seem to reach
an agreement, the club sports
are caught in the middle of the
argument, receiving cut funds
from the Council and no
additional help from athletics.

"It's incredible that Council
is sponsoring club sports to the
degree that we do...the
activities fee is stretched to its
limits and it can't be stretched
any further," said Mr. Sabato,
who is chairman of the Student
Council allocations committee.

Can't Afford It

"The Athletic Department
says they can't afford it," he
continued, "But we think they
should juggle their budget so
they could at least partially
finance club sports."

Mr. Sabato said that they
are willing to compromise with
the Athletic Department to the
extent that each would
partially finance club sports.

The question comes up of
where will the additional funds
come from to finance club
sports. Mr. Corrigan contends
that the only solution he sees is
to increase the tuition of each
student.

Raise Tuition

"We think it is absurd to
keep raising the tuition," said
Mr. Sabato, who feels that the
Athletic Department should
re-arrange their priorities in
budgeting.

Lack of financing is
particularly hurting girls sports
clubs which are just in their
initial stages of formation.

Financial problems have
incurred not only because
Student Council does not have
enough funds for the club
sports, but because of the
discriminatory way they
distribute what money they do
have.

A few statistics may be
cited which clearly point out
the injustice done to girls
athletics. The girls tennis team
requested $468 from Council
and received a mere $174 to
cover all their expenses.

Contrastingly, the all-male
rugby club, in which several
Student Council members
participate, received $3900 of
the $4470 they requested from
Council allocations.

A milder contrast can be
seen in the girls' hockey team
which received $433 and the
boys' gymnastic team which
was allotted $1273.

Mr. Sabato commented, "I
agree that there has been some
discrimination in girls sports,
but this will be changing." But
if additional funds are not
made available to finance club
sports the girls sports program
will continue to lag behind.

Additional Sports

When queried about the
financing of women's sports if
they became intercollegiate,
Mr. Corrigan commented, "It is
becoming more and more
difficult if not impossible to
finance additional
intercollegiate sports." As a
possible alternative, he
suggested financing through
the physical education or
intramurals departments.

Four years ago a University
committee chaired by Dean
Robert T. Canevari made a
thorough examination of club
sports at the University and
offered recommendations as to
what should be done about

their leadership, legal
responsibilities and financing.

Following the path of many
committee reports, none of the
recommendations for
improvement have gone into
effect.

The study noted that about
75 per cent of U.S. colleges
finance club sports through the
athletic department, physical
education department and
intramural department, with
only about one-fourth being
financed through the student
government.

As Mr. Sabato commented,
"The natural home for club
sports isn't with Council but
the athletic departments at the
University."

The 1968 report
recommended that financing
be shared by the Athletic
Department, Student Council
and the club itself, which
seems like a very fair
compromise.

Another recommendation
of the club sport study was to
have the authority within the
Intramural Department who
would be club sport director.
Currently, there is no central
figure in charge of club sports.
Again lack of finances seems to
stand in the way of this
proposal.

Solutions Obvious

The steps to be taken to
alleviate the club sport
financial problem seem
obvious. An agreement must be
reached between Student
Council and the Athletic
Department where club sports
would receive adequate
finances without raising the
mandatory student fee.

And when thy money is
budgeted to clubs, the
committee doing so must make
sure that a fair amount of
funds be distributed to all
groups, with no discrimination
on the basis of sex.

Irrational Arguments

The Athletic Department
argues irrationally that they are
financially unable to undertake
the club sport burden. Two
solutions to this are either to
re-arrange their priorities in
financing or introduce some
special money-raising project
which would provide funds for
the sports.

The project could be
something on the level of the
Orange and Blue inter-squad
basketball game that is being
played November 16 to raise
money for recruiting.

Instead of letting club
sports flounder as they wait for
lengthy negotiations to end
between Student Council and
the Athletic Department, I
suggest immediate action be
taken to alleviate a financial
problem which has remained
unsolved for too long.