Nov. 5, 2009

BERKELEY - Chancellor Robert Birgeneau expressed his support for Intercollegiate Athletics at Cal following a vote of the UC Berkeley Academic Senate recommending that the department become financially self-sufficient.

The resolution, passed by a majority of the 160 UC Berkeley faculty who voted at Thursday's senate meeting, recommends that the Chancellor end institutional support for Intercollegiate Athletics, move to develop a viable plan to make the department self-supporting and present it at the senate's spring meeting.

"Although it is advisory, we will, of course, take very seriously the Academic Senate's recommendation and will consider the most effective way to move forward," Chancellor Robert Birgeneau said. "We are very concerned about this year's shortfall and are already working on containing Athletics deficits. We share the Academic Senate's goal of achieving a self-supporting athletics program, although that will take time to realize. We must maintain our commitment to gender equity and equal competitive opportunity for our female student athletes, both as a matter of law and to honor our campus commitment to equity and inclusion. I believe that a strong athletics program brings many benefits to the entire university. I am very proud of all our student-athletes, both men and women, and the enormous contributions which they make to the life of the campus."

The non-binding resolution also recommends that the Academic Senate establish a Senate Intercollegiate Athletics Oversight Committee composed solely of faculty members. The final tally was 91-68 of those in attendance out of more than 1,500 faculty on campus who are voting members of the senate.

"Although the resolution was supported by those who attended this meeting, I know that Athletics and its student-athletes enjoy wide support among the faculty as a whole," Director of Athletics Sandy Barbour said. "We remain committed to working with the faculty, and I look forward to constructive conversations about appropriate and sustainable financial support for Cal Athletics."

For the current fiscal year, Intercollegiate Athletics is receiving $4 million in funds from the Chancellor and another $2 million in student registration fees, less than 10 percent of total fees collected. According to IA policy and practice, funds from the Chancellor are used solely to support women's teams and, by extension, broad-based participation by Cal's female student-athletes in top-level intercollegiate competition. The allocation of student registration fees to intercollegiate athletics is standard practice at many other universities across the country. The student body has input on how registration fees are spent through their independent Committee on Student Fees and Budget Review.

In an open letter to the Cal community, Barbour and Vice Chancellor Nathan Brostrom wrote that "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."

Intercollegiate Athletics recently produced a comprehensive FAQ about its finances and academic performance. The link can be found here.