Colorado College Athletics

To the Colorado College Community:

As you know, I have received many communications from alumni, parents, and friends of Colorado College about our decision to discontinue football, softball, and water polo. Please know that this was a very hard budget decision—although it is only one of many. (I will say more about that later in this letter.). 

Much of the feedback has been unsupportive, some has been understanding, and some supportive. Most recently, on Tuesday concerned students staged a “Save Our Sports” rally. I especially want to acknowledge their deep passion and devotion. I am grateful for all these various communications and for the commitment they represent.

Not surprisingly, the majority of these have been about football. Tiger football has been a defining feature of CC for almost as long as we have been in existence. Of course I mean in no way to diminish the equally painful impact on the student-athletes, coaches, parents, and others involved in softball and water polo.

The central and most immediate question posed to me has been this: Could the decision be reversed? So as not to prolong this most difficult situation further, I want to be clear on this matter. In the short term—a timeline soon enough to save the current programs—the answer is no. Our current budget situation in this uncertain economic environment dictates that we must make and stick with hard but necessary decisions. 

In the longer term, could we reinstate these sports at some point? As stated in our original announcement, the hope is that one day that might be feasible. But such an effort would have to be based on a very hard-nosed appraisal of what it would cost for CC to do it right – in other words, both strengthen our programs and sustain them.

Football in particular is very costly—more so than most realize. To sustain a strong football program (along with the two women’s sports to maintain gender equity) would cost close to $1 million annually. To protect the sports for future generations would require $20 million in endowment. These are substantial numbers for each of you to consider. 

Therefore, after additional consultation with the Board of Trustees and our staff fundraising team, and after sharing thoughts with many alumni and parents of the affected student-athletes, I have determined that realistically we cannot consider restoring varsity competition in these sports for at least three years. Why three years? For a successful campaign on the scale required, we need a significantly improved economy. We need a clear and compelling vision for these programs, and tools to support the campaign. And we need to explore options that might reduce the cost of our intercollegiate competition. I am convinced that this is the only responsible way to proceed.

Some of you have asked why, given these circumstances, the college has not been actively raising money for these sports. Unlike major universities, colleges like CC generally do not maintain major fundraising programs around their athletic programs. Our fundraising efforts with our modest staffing and constituencies must be focused on our most central of priorities: our faculty, financial aid for our students, and our campus facilities. The severe economic downturn, and with it the growing need for financial aid, confronts us with a challenge that dwarfs the $750,000 we must save in our athletic programs. 

Our endowment is down significantly with no assurance as to how much further it might shrink; enrollment and annual giving targets are uncertain. In response, our Board of Trustees has mandated that the college target cuts of at least $8 million, and perhaps as much as $12 million, in annual spending over the next three years.

While the decision about these three sports is perhaps our most visible cost reduction to date, the college is taking significant and controversial budget measures on every front. We are eliminating at least fifty staff jobs, eliminating low enrollment classes, deferring maintenance, freezing pay, and looking to combine or eliminate programs. 

Every staff member we lose and every program we cut has real impact on the fabric of the college community. The loss of these three sports will certainly have such an impact, affecting recruitment, socioeconomic and ethnic diversity in our student body, and (in the case of football) CC tradition. But frankly, any decrease in student financial aid would have a much more negative effect on the talent and diversity of our community.

This is a challenging time in Colorado College history, as it is for virtually everyone across our nation. It requires us to make extremely tough decisions. In this particular case, looking into the eyes of the dedicated student-athletes and coaches as Athletic Director Ken Ralph and I broke the news to them was one of my most painful experiences as president of CC. We are doing everything in our power to help them adapt. 

At the same time, we are doing all we can to ensure that the overall enterprise of Colorado College endures. In the end, sustaining this institution and its mission to provide the finest liberal arts education in the country is what we must do.