Stanford University announced today that it would eliminate 11 varsity sports after the 2020-2021 season, citing the need to create “fiscal stability.”
Men’s and women’s fencing, field hockey, lightweight rowing, men’s rowing, co-ed and women’s sailing, squash, synchronized swimming, men’s volleyball and wrestling will be discontinued. The teams will have a chance to compete during the fall and spring seasons “should the circumstances surrounding Covid-19 allow it,” Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne wrote in a letter to the university community.
“We now face the reality that significant change is needed to create fiscal stability for Stanford Athletics,” Tessier-Lavigne wrote. “This is heartbreaking news to share.”
Stanford University will eliminate 11 varsity sports after the 2020-21 academic year, to save an … [+]
The total incremental funding needed to permanently sustain the 11 sports at a nationally competitive varsity standard would be more than $200 million, the university said.
“I’m not at all surprised to see this kind of announcement, but am a little surprised to see Stanford out ahead, since they are one of a small handful of institutions that actually could afford to continue the subsidies if they chose to,” said Nate Johnson, principal consultant at Postsecondary Analytics, LLC, an education consulting firm in Tallahassee, Florida.
“The marriage of sports and scholarship in American higher education has never been an easy one,” Johnson added. “I don’t think this is the end of that marriage, but I think both sides are starting to talk to their lawyers.”
While the financial stress incurred by the pandemic is what triggered the sports cut, a structural deficit had emerged several years before the global health crisis due to the rising costs of operating a large athletics department, the university said. That deficit was forecast to exceed $12 million in fiscal year 2021, but now projections taking into account factors such as the pandemic’s impact were for a “best-case scenario” of $25 million in that same period, with a cumulative shortfall of nearly $70 million over the next three years.
News about the cuts was shared to the 240 student athletes and 22 coaches involved in the impacted sports via a Zoom call. Twenty support staff positions will be eliminated as a result of the decision. Stanford athletes have won Olympic medals and national championships in the earmarked sports.
On June 3, Stanford released plans to reopen campus this fall, but due to continuing concerns over the coronavirus, online classes will continue even for students on campus, especially undergraduates. In addition, in order to “de-densify” dormitories and buildings, only around half of the total undergraduate population will be invited to stay on campus per quarter.
A number of states have experienced a spike in Covid-19 cases, and infection spread in California prompted the University of Southern California to reverse earlier plans to reopen campus and opt to continue with online classes, encouraging students to avoid campus.
