University of Virginia Library

Relief For Club Sports Is Forthcoming;
Athletic Department To Shoulder Some Costs

Commentary

By TOM BELL

The proposal introduced to
Student Council last night,
under which the athletic
department would assume
responsibility for the funding
of one-third of the University's
club sports program, promises
long-term relief from the acute
miseries which the growing
number of club teams have
suffered in recent years.

The main thrust of the
proposal is that during the
Spring allocations hearings of
the Council's Organizations
and Publications Committee,
one dollar per student will be
set aside for club sports, based
on projected enrollment figures
for the coming year. In
addition, fifty cents per
projected student will be added
to the fund through the efforts
of the Department of
Athletics.

For an enrollment of
13,000 students, then, the
Student Council would set
aside $13,000 from their fund
of approximately $115,000 in
Student' Activities Fees. The
Department of Athletics would
be responsible for adding an
additional $6,500 to the fee.

The funds would then be
appropriated through regular O
& P Committee procedures,
except that an advisor from the
Athletic Department,
knowledgeable about club
sports, would be added to the
Committee to aid it in
establishing the just need of
each sport.

The proposal marks the first
time that the Athletic
Department has assumed any
responsibility for directly
funding the club sports. In the
past the assistance of the
Department has been limited
to providing and maintaining
playing fields and courts, and
to coordinating activities
through the Intramural
Department.

Student Council has taken
the full responsibility for past
funding, but increasing needs
on the parts of the various
clubs and the establishment of
new clubs, particularly in the
area of women's athletics
where there are as yet no
varsity teams, have strained the
available Council funds to the
point where they are
inadequate to support the
legitimate demand.

Fifteen clubs are presently
funded by the Council, four of which
are for women only and another four
of which received funds for the
first time this fall. The total
amount requested by these
groups for the present year was
$29.509, an unrealistically
large total because most clubs,
knowing that cuts will be
made, pad their budgets before
presentation to O & P.

O & P allocated $17,108 to
the clubs for the present school
year, a significant increase over
the $13,707 allocated the year
before. The $17,108
represented what the
committee determined to be
the just needs of the various
clubs.

A shortage of funds,
however, caused drastic cuts in
the allocations later, as most
clubs suffered a one-third
across-the-board cut.

The clubs which receive varsity
letters and thus have the
closest ties to the Athletic
Department, had their funds
slashed by two-thirds.

The $17,108 total was
reduced by these cuts to
$11,699, leaving the deficit at
$5,439, which has forced many
clubs to face the prospect of
reduced activity and poor
equipment, or to take the
raising of additional funds
upon themselves. All of the
clubs already have membership
dues.

Under the new plan, the
total fund available should
approach $19,500, a more than
adequate amount to supply
present needs as well as to
provide for any new clubs
which might be formed in the
future.

Fund Is Not Fixed

An added feature of the
plan is that it will grow as the
number of students at the
University increases, for the
contributions of the Council
and the Athletic Department
are both made on a per student
basis.

Ten percent of the funds
available will not be allocated
in the Spring of each year, but
will be held over until the fall
for new clubs and increased
needs of previously funded
groups.

Any money not allocated
by March 1 each year will be
distributed to the clubs in
proportion to the previous
allocation. Coupled with the
Seven Society's gift of $777.77
which was presented to retiring
Intramural Director E.R.
"Butch" Slaughter last
Saturday as an aid to needy
clubs, the new plan puts the
University's recreational
athletic teams in the best
financial shape they have
enjoyed in recent memory.

The acute crisis that the
clubs have faced, brought on
mainly by ever-increasing
demands on limited Student
Council funds, made the
eventual entry of the
Department of Athletics into
the club sports picture
inevitable. Increasing demands
on the athletic budget,
however, have made the
Department reluctant to take
on any new commitments
outside the area of
intercollegiate athletics.

Income Fluctuates

The problem is
compounded by an income
which fluctuates in proportion
to such things as football gate
receipts and the size of crowds
at away games, and can thus be
influenced greatly by the
weather on a particular day or
the records of the Cavaliers and
their opponents.

The solution to this
dilemma came after long
negotiations between officials
of the Council and the Athletic
Department, when the
Department agreed to commit
itself to raising one-third of the
needed fund either from within
or without of the athletic
budget.

The proposal reached by the
Council and the Department
offers a long-term solution to a
problem which has existed at
least since the growth of the
University began. It assures the
continuation and growth of an
area every bit as vital to the
overall athletic program as are
the varsity teams, for if the
quality of student life is to be
maintained as enrollment
grows, the University must
look after its recreational
athletes as well as its Barry
Parkhills. To desert either at
the expense of the other would
certainly be unfortunate.