The Men's and Women's Rugby Clubs have received permission from the Board of Trustees to solicit funds to build a new clubhouse as part of the Will to Excel Campaign.
According to Rugby Coach Wayne Young, the men's and women's clubs must raise $500,000 between them before they can begin construction on the clubhouse, which will be located behind Garipay Field. The $500,000 will be used to replace the Corey Ford '26 Fund, an endowment left for the men's rugby team in the 1950s.
Young said the rugby clubs are not College-funded and since the entire Ford Fund will be used to build the clubhouse, the newly raised funds are necessary to cover operating costs and tour expenses.
The club has raised approximately $200,000 of its $500,000 goal from the Friends of Dartmouth Rugby since early February and is currently continuing efforts to solicit through the Friends network. Young said the club has also targeted a few potential major donors.
The fund originated in the 1950s, when Ford left a house "For the betterment of Dartmouth rugby." The house was then sold for $50,000, and the money has been managed since then as part of the College's endowment.
The fund was originally given to men's rugby because the College had not gone co-ed when Ford made his donation. But under Title IX, a federal civil rights law, collegiate athletics must provide equal opportunities for men's and women's sports and the clubhouse and fund will have to be used by both teams.
"Rugby has come a pretty long way in terms of men and women sharing facilitates and supporting each other," said Liz McLanahan '93, the president of the Women's Rugby Club.
Once completed, the clubhouse will be the only one of its kind among college rugby clubs, according to next year's men's captain Mike Cicerone '94.
"It will be an incredible facility if we can do it," Cicerone said. "We're all very excited about it. It would really make Dartmouth the premier place to play rugby in the country."
The proposed design consists of a two-story house and includes men's and women's lockers rooms, a meeting room and a room to host post-tournament receptions, according to Dann Angelof '93, the president of the men's club.
