Rutgers University
Goal: Save men's varsity tennis at Rutgers University
Location: New Brunswick, N.J. (Population: 39,673)
Student Enrollment: Approximately 50,000
Introduction: In the summer of 2006, Ben Bucca, coach of the women’s varsity tennis program at Rutgers, notified the USTA and the ITA of the impending decision to drop the varsity men’s tennis program. Five other sports were also slated to be dropped: men's and woman's fencing, men’s swimming and diving, and men’s crew. All sports were scheduled to be subtracted at the end of the 2006-07 academic year.
History: Rutgers Board of Governors (BOG) announced statewide budget cuts of $52.4 million to staff and services to affect all academic and administrative operations at the Rutgers University system, including layoffs, cuts in courses and elimination of the six intercollegiate sports. Research by the Rutgers advocacy group found that the decision to eliminate the teams was made months before the announcement but held until the morning of the BOG meeting in order to shield the university from having to face public outcry. According to files obtained through the Open Public Records Act (OPRA), the cuts would save $2 million from an annual athletic department budget of $38 million. The men’s varsity tennis team budget was $135,000 annually. At the same time, it was announced that the football and basketball team budgets would be increased. In order to provide opportunities for as many students to participate in sports as possible, the athletic director claimed he had to reduce the number of sports teams, conference affiliation and facilities in compliance with Title IX guidelines. In response, David Benjamin of the ITA; Jon Vegosen, Chair of the USTA Collegiate Committee; D.A. Abrams, Executive Director and COO of the USTA Eastern Section; and Joe Arias, Chair of the USTA Eastern Section Collegiate Committee sent a letter to the president of Rutgers. Furthermore, letters and e-mails from the College Tennis Advocacy Network flooded the president’s mailbox, adding more pressure not to save the tennis program. Steve Wise, Midwest College Section Coordinator, sent out an alert to the Midwest section, who had dealt with a similar situation years earlier with Western Michigan University. Robert Stanicki, assistant men’s varsity tennis coach, provided local leadership in directing the efforts to save the program. A website (www.saverutgerstennis.org) was launched to help keep interested parties informed and to help spread the word.
Advocacy in Action: A broad-based coalition to “Save our Sports” was founded. Members included individuals and organizations, including the USTA, ITA and the governing bodies for fencing, swimming and rowing. Some of the strategies implemented to help save the Rutgers’ tennis program were:
- Citing the long history of the tennis team at Rutgers University (the program dates back to 1925).
- Citing the excellent athletic records of the six teams due to be eliminated. Combined, the six had among the best athletic records of all teams, producing numerous All-Americans, Olympians and Big East honorees.
- Citing the teams’ excellent academic records: The six eliminated teams had among the best academic records of all teams at the university. The men’s tennis teams was the university’s No. 1-ranked academic team four times over a 10-year span from 1997-2006, and in 2007 seven members of the team were named Big East All-Academic.
- Raising the concept of denial of opportunity. Rutgers is the only public university in New Jersey offering NCAA Division I teams in these sports. Thus, those high school and collegiate student-athletes wishing to compete at the highest intercollegiate level would be forced to leave the state, which, for many, may not be an affordable option.
- A media blitz: local newspapers, columnists, editors, radio and TV as well as other media were contacted in the area. Vegosen published an Op-Ed piece in the New York Times.
- Contact was established with a state assemblyman who opposed the cuts and hosted a public hearing. Representatives from the Rutgers men’s varsity tennis team, the ITA and the USTA spoke at a legislative hearing sponsored by Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan and conducted by the State Committee on Higher Education. Dr. Warren Kimball, Rutgers-Newark professor emeritus and USTA historian, also supported saving the tennis team.
- Support was also garnered from New Jersey State Senator and gubernatorial candidate Thomas Kean Jr., and former New York City Mayor David Dinkins offered to help arrange a meeting between the coalition of supporters and State Senator Shirley K. Turner and Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman. Finding the elimination of these teams unrelated to any budgetary constraint, the N.J. State Assembly Higher Education Committee introduced a resolution in October 2006 opposing Rutgers’ decision and urging it to reinstate the terminated teams. The editorial positions of the major newspapers in New Jersey similarly condemned the decision, finding that budget cuts were no more than a pretext to Rutgers’ actions. The Outcome: By December 2006, the coalition of teams and sports had raised in excess of $400,000, or roughly half the university’s cost of operating all six teams. Armed with these finances, that same month the coalition appeared before the BOG and argued that the alleged monetary basis supporting its termination of these teams could no longer uphold that decision. These pleas, however, fell on deaf ears. On February 8, 2007, the N.J. State Assembly Higher Education Committee unanimously passed the resolution opposing Rutgers’ decision and, one day later, the coalition again appeared before the BOG to plead for reinstatement. The coalition pledged in excess of $650,000 to defray these teams’ 2007-2008 costs (with significant pledges for following years) but the BOG refused to reverse course.
Lesson: Remain steadfast in the face of obstacles. In many advocacy efforts, your best quality is a strong belief that what you’re doing is right. The Rutgers Board of Governors repeatedly rebuffed the Rutgers men’s tennis team, but it came back with a coalition, then a resolution, and gained many valuable supporters along the way. Whether it is enough to save Rutgers tennis remains to be seen, but the effort and organization is certainly there.
Update: For additional information and project updates logon to savingrutgerstennis.org
Contact Information:
Bob Stanicki, Rutgers Men’s Assistant Tennis Coach
Telephone (w): 732-388-2121 (ext. 17) • Telephone (c): 908-347-0694 • E-mail: rstanicki@mbslawyers.com
Nancy Breo, ITA Administrator
College Tennis Advocacy Network
Telephone: 609-638-4952 • E-mail: itanbreo@aol.com
