Nov. 5, 2009

Dear members and friends of the UC Berkeley community:

On Thursday UC Berkeley's Academic Senate will gather for what we hope will be a stimulating, constructive discussion about our Intercollegiate Athletics (IA) program. Both of us will be participating, and we look forward to answering important questions and addressing a number of misconceptions about IA's costs, benefits, and values.

Neither of us came to Cal by chance. We are here because of our belief in the campus's defining attribute: excellence in our every endeavor. While teaching and research are at heart of the University's mission, we are convinced that an Intercollegiate Athletics program, operating in a manner consistent with our educational goals and institutional values, generates significant benefits for the entire University. We are therefore fully committed to ensuring that IA is and remains an integral of a campus where the phrase "student-athlete" is not, and never will be, an oxymoron.

The current financial climate is generating legitimate concerns and questions about Cal Athletics. In response, we prepared a comprehensive FAQ as well as additional documents about our student-athletes' academic performance and the financial model for Memorial Stadium's seismic retrofit and renovation. (All of these materials are available on the University's NewsCenter and Academic Senate websites.)

Like everyone on campus, IA is attempting to meet the challenges of a very difficult financial situation. Campus funding for Cal Athletics was cut by 20%, numerous positions were eliminated, operations curtailed, and staff are participating in the campuswide furlough program. No public funds are used to compensate our coaches and, as contract employees, they are exempt from the furloughs. However, here at Berkeley, these coaches are voluntarily stepping up and participating in the program.

Given the late decision on California's state budget, we did not have the option of making more dramatic changes to IA's program, due to our moral and legal obligations to honor current contracts, scholarships, and our promise to provide competitive opportunities for our student-athletes. For next year, however, all options are on the table as we begin to consider changes to the scope of our program.

The deficits we project for IA in the 2009 and 2010 fiscal years are an unfortunate result of the current recession. Because IA funds approximately 90% of its operation through external revenues and donations, it was uniquely vulnerable to the economic collapse. The Chancellor has made clear his dissatisfaction with IA's financial performance and management, and we are making a concerted effort to improve on both of these fronts. Soon, there will be a written agreement ensuring that short-term loans from the campus will be repaid, and new, highly experienced people already have been hired to help manage IA's budget. (We should note that deficits are a common occurrence in academic units and that they, like IA, have the ability to access emergency funds as per the campus's Deficit Resolution Policy.)

Beyond implementing cost-containment measures, we are doing everything possible to enhance IA revenues to keep us on the path to our long-term goal of financial self-sufficiency. In the meantime, Cal Athletics, like 90% of Division I programs, relies on a certain degree of campus support. This year we will receive $4 million from the Chancellor and $2 million in student-registration fees, which is less than 10% of total fees collected. (The allocation of student-registration fees for IA is a common practice at our peer institutions, including UCLA. At Berkeley, students advise the Chancellor on the expenditure of fees through the independent Committee on Student Fees and Budget Review.)

Together, these funds will allow us to deeply discount tens of thousands of event tickets for students, ensure we continue to play a pivotal role in a vibrant campus community and, most importantly, make real our commitment to gender equity and the legal mandates of Title IX. While football and men's basketball generate about $15 million in net revenues, women's teams generate net costs of approximately $8 million. According to policy and practice, funds from the Chancellor are used solely to support women's teams.

There are those who claim that IA brings little benefit to the University. We respectfully disagree and fully support a recent Daily Cal editorial that notes IA's value to the campus community. Beyond the life-changing opportunities we provide to more than 850 student-athletes, IA helps fortify the ties that bind alumni to the institution. The data is compelling: from 2003-08 Cal Athletics was, for the first time ever, ranked among the top 10 programs in the country--not just once but for five of those six years. During that same period, private donations to the campus rose by 49% on an annual basis. Of the 137 donors who pledged at least $10,000 to our new Student-athlete High Performance Center, 123 combined to give more than $108 million to academic units across campus.

With all of the above in mind, we believe that the current resolution before the Academic Senate meeting may not be the most constructive approach to the issues we face. While we share the principle that IA should be self-supporting, the resolution's call for an immediate cessation of institutional support is unrealistic and would cause grievous harm to the program, while undermining its campus-wide benefits. We do, however, believe that we can and should come together to discuss and determine appropriate and sustainable levels of institutional support as Cal Athletics continues toward our shared goal of a self-supporting program.

We welcome and support the faculty's role in providing oversight for IA, but we do not believe that the resolution's recommendation for a new committee is warranted. Members of the faculty already play a vital role in our program. They serve on the University Athletics Board that provides important oversight and helps ensure we operate in a manner consistent with the educational values and goals of the Berkeley campus. A faculty member fills the essential position of Faculty Athletics Representative who, according to the NCAA's principles, helps ensure "that the academic institution establishes and maintains the appropriate balance between academics and intercollegiate athletics." Forums for engagement and oversight already exist. Let's make sure we are using them to their full potential before creating another new committee.

Instead of turning on each other in the face of extreme financial challenges, we should come together to develop a way forward based on shared values. Whether it's the shared thrill of the Big Game; the pride we take and the recognition we receive when our student-athletes come home with national championships and Olympic medals; the diversity of origin and interests that our student-athletes bring to the campus; or the importance of athletics for so many of the University's 400,000 living alumni, it is clear to us that Cal Athletics must remain an indivisible part of who we are as a University and a community.

Nathan Brostrom
Vice Chancellor, Administration

Sandy Barbour
Director of Athletics