Cal State


	EDITORIAL

CAL STATE DROPS WRESTLING

Ongoing budget shortfalls continue to create severe financial difficulties for higher education in California. California State University, Bakersfield, is not immune to this reality. As part of campus–wide reductions to help deal with the on–going financial crisis, CSUB Athletics will be discontinuing men’s and women’s golf, tennis and wrestling as intercollegiate sports, effective with 2010–11 academic year.

"This was an extremely agonizing decision, born of extreme circumstances and reached after painstaking deliberation," said CSUB President Dr. Horace Mitchell. "We are facing unprecedented challenges, not only in the upcoming year but into the foreseeable future. The decisions we announce today are crafted to help ensure a sustainable program that will allow Roadrunner Athletics to continue to be a successful part of the mission of CSUB."

In the face of rising expenses across the spectrum, Roadrunner Athletics is facing an anticipated shortfall of approximately $700,000 for 2010–11. While that cut is substantial in its own right, it is part of a much larger series of revenue cuts and increasing expenses over the past four years.

"We have absorbed the revenue shortfalls and rising expenses over the past several years through cuts in support staffing and services," said CSUB Director of Athletics Rudy Carvajal. "We have done our best to mitigate the direct impact to teams and student–athletes, but the unprecedented depth and breadth of the ongoing financial crisis requires extraordinary measures to ensure the long–term sustainability of the Roadrunner Athletics program."

The affected teams will continue to compete through the completion of the current academic year. All student–athletes with remaining eligibility will have the option of transferring or continuing their education at CSUB. Affected scholarship student–athletes will continue to receive their athletics scholarships for the 2010–11 academic year, should they choose to remain at CSUB.