The men's volleyball team met today with the Athletic Department to discuss their recent demotion from an unfunded varsity sport to a club sport.
"We asked if there was anything we could do. They said absolutely nothing, that there was no recourse," Jeremy Longinotti '96, the team's captain, said.
"The decision was not made lightly. We knew they wouldn't be terribly happy about the decision, but they were gentlemen about it," Associate Director of Athletics Ken Jones said.
"We were in an easy position to be eliminated, whether its fair or not, that's what happened," Longinotti said.
"We try to meet the needs of the student body, but you can't always do that," Jones said.
"I think Dartmouth is missing out on a big opportunity for some good publicity. We're a strong up-and-coming program and we're competing with the best," Longinotti said.
According to a letter from Director of Athletics Richard Jaeger to Longinotti, there were three main reasons for the decision: administrative overload, Title IX requirements and the desire to do away with the unfunded varsity category.
However, the Athletic Department's denial of the team's request for a two-year deferment of the decision was "based more on administration overload than anything to do with Title IX," Jones said.
"It was strictly an internal matter of ability to deal with the National Collegiate Athletic Association's never-ending paperwork," Jones said.
"We're having trouble managing the 34 teams we already have and the way our budget is now, the next thing we might have to do is take some sports away, not add new ones," Jaeger said.
Longinotti said the team is still very dissatisfied with the decision but hasn't yet discussed where to go from here.
Jones said it is highly unlikely that the team will ever be moved back up to unfunded varsity status.
