Hartwick College President Dick Miller sent the following message to the college community on Thursday, January 15, 2004.
Memorandum
To: College Community
From:áDick Miller
Date:áJanuary 15, 2004
Re: Athletics at Hartwick
One of the great strengths of a liberal arts community like ours is the ability to consider undergraduate education in its broadest context. We know, and have affirmed through many generations of students, the importance of athletic programs as an element of the college experience. At Hartwick, we endorse the idea of lessons learned through vigorous and disciplined competition.
It is our continuing responsibility to ensure that we compete in the arenas most appropriate not only for our student athletes but for our College as a whole. Division I competition has, for some time, presented special challenges for an institution of our size and nature. As we look at todayÆs landscape in collegiate athletics, we see that prominence in Division I has increasingly become the province of large (and mostly public) universities, with student bodies and resources far in excess of those available to Hartwick College.
This is true at a time when my administration faces the challenge (addressed initially by my predecessor) of bringing the institution into programmatic and financial balance on a number of fronts. It is now an inescapable conclusion that Division I athletics demand a disproportionate share of the resources of our small liberal arts college. As we try to balance the issues of College size, tuition, faculty size, and other student activities and support services, the call on those resources becomes increasingly unsustainable.
The Board of Trustees and my predecessor last winter made a decision to continue our commitment to two Division I programs, and it was my hope upon assuming the presidency that I could support that decision and that it would be practical to do so. Unfortunately, it is now clear that this is not the case.
After a great deal of study and reflection, and consultation with others, I have recommended, and the Board has approved, the decision to migrate our Division I athletic programs in menÆs soccer and womenÆs water polo to Division III status as soon as that can be practically accomplished. Our coaches and athletes affected are being notified today of this decision.
In his first year, Coach Ian McIntyre, with the extraordinary commitment of our student athletes, delivered a 15-2-1 record in menÆs soccerùone that qualified us to be rated by the peer coachesÆ poll as a top-16 program, but which did not justify, in the eyes of the NCAA, an invitation to its 48-team national tournament. This irony highlights the fact that as a 1,400-student institution in a ôremoteö location, without an affiliation to a major conference, it is extremely difficult for us to achieve the national prominence once enjoyed by Hartwick College in menÆs soccer. Again, the institutions that today command the lead in Division I competitions have resources that far outstrip those available to us. The uphill battle we have fought for national prominence will become an even steeper and expensive climb. Holding to our position of prominence in womenÆs water polo will also become a more difficult and expensive struggle.
Of course, some will disagree with this decision. Let me assure you that it is not made lightly. No one enjoys competition and athletic events more than I. Although the womenÆs water polo season has yet to start, last fall I attended more than two-thirds of the menÆs soccer games, including a number of away contests. I have seen that HartwickÆs commitment to excellence in athleticsùwhether at the Division I or Division III levelsùis unswerving. Our ability to be competitive at the Division III level is substantially greater than that at Division I, and so all of us can look forward to the many satisfying and well-earned victories ahead. As important, equity across all sports and between athletic programs and other student activities, and the principal academic mission of the College, is a critical objective. Bringing Division I in soccer and womenÆs water polo to Division III status supports that principle.
I would be happy to exchange views with you on this subject. But I should note that this decision is final. I know that those of us who care most deeply about Hartwick in the broadest sense will now attend to the other important issues before us. As we do so, our athletic program most definitely remains a deeply integral part of the Hartwick experienceùand, now, will be brought into even better balance with the other superb opportunities, curricular and co-curricular, that are offered to our students.