Approximately one week after finals ended this past spring, Athletics Director Mark Brown sent out a school-wide email announcing the department would be adding women’s field hockey and women’s lacrosse to its curriculum, but in order to make room for these new programs, “the university [would] no longer sponsor the golf, tennis, track and field and equestrian teams, effective immediately.”
The decision came as a shock to the teams being cut, one of which having done considerably well in recent competitions. Pace University Equestrian Team (PUET) took second-place at both the Drew/Sarah Lawrence Show and the ANRC Invitational back in 2010 and its riders consistently placed in the top ten in individual events throughout 2011. The team has such a good reputation that recent Pace alumna, Danielle Cosgrove, admits she “chose [Pace] because [she] had heard that the equestrian team was amazing.”
Cosgrove’s former teammates, along with all athletes affected by the cuts, were notified only a day prior to the rest of the student body about the prompt termination of their program.
“There were no warnings,” said junior information tech major and member of the tennis team Gina Pittore. “I’ve played on the team for an amazing two years and randomly on Monday I found out I will never play a college match again. That’s not what I signed up for.”
The cuts were reportedly made after a 10-month review designed to strengthen the athletics department by making room for more women to partake in Pace’s athletics programs and improving the popularity of the University’s spectator sports.
In an interview over the summer, when asked if any of the athletes or staff were made aware of the review, Brown replied, “No…we did not want to create unnecessary strife amongst all of the teams because the committee, quite frankly, wasn’t quite sure what the result was going be.”
Brown maintained that the changes were just one small piece of the University’s “Strategic Plan” to redefine and revitalize campus-life by 2016.
“There were three primary goals,” Brown said, “one was to try to develop a campus identity for the Pleasantville campus. I mean, the city has the performing arts. It’s got New York City. What does Pleasantville have? We needed to kind of identify ourselves, so we wanted to have a strong athletic program that the students could be supportive of. We wanted to have nice facilities here, so that when we have intramurals and different campus activities they can use the athletic facilities to do that…there is also a significant desire to build school spirit…and in the eyes of this committee, these particular sports didn’t fit that particular criteria.”
As for what other criteria the department used to evaluate  its programs, Dean of Students, Lisa Bardill Moscaritolo explained that “a committee of faculty, staff and administrators evaluated every sport that Pace sponsors in terms of alumni reaction and support, historical competiveness, conference considerations, facilities, fiscal responsibility and staffing. The programs impacted had challenges in these areas.”
Brown’s letter also mentions that the cuts were made to ensure the University more thoroughly follows Title IX regulations. However, out of the 61 athletes cut, 36 were women and only 25 were men. With the exception of Men’s Golf, all of the discontinued programs were either co-ed or, in the case of equestrian, all-female.
How was an all-female team with a record of high performance found lacking in “historical competitiveness” and support of Title IX?
“The primary driving force behind that was equestrian is not a Northeast-10 sponsored sport, whereas, women’s field hockey and women’s lacrosse are both sponsored by the NE-10, extremely competitive in the NE-10, and extremely competitive nationally,” Brown said. “The desire was to enhance our position in the NE-10 and having an equestrian team didn’t do that—a fairly small team that had to go off campus…we did try to host a home show at the farm that used to house us, Fox Hill, but, outside of parents, very little student support [was shown] for that event.”
The announcement was instantly met with a series of viral protests. Days after the email went out; a number of petitions demanding that the athletics department repeal its decision appeared online.
“What has been promised to the students for years has been snatched away fiercely and unexpectedly,” writes sophomore criminal justice major and staunch supporter of Pace Track and Field Tameka Bazile, in her petition letter posted on Change.org in May. “Our privileges have continued to be taken away from us and this is a privilege that will not be taken quietly.”
Pittore, who also started a petition, maintained that, regardless of what the University’s plan was, “they did not consider how many students they were hurting.”
Despite the fact that petitions formed by the tennis, track and field, and equestrian teams have gained 123, 166 and counting, and 317 supporters respectively over the last four months, the University still has no plans to alter its decision.
When asked about the online movement, Brown responded, “It is important to understand that this was not my decision…this was an institutional decision made at the presidential level with his advisors, his group. This committee did make a recommendation to the President, but the decision is ultimately theirs.”
While the university will honor existing scholarships associated with each suspended program, there is still concern regarding whether or not many of the former athletes will continue at Pace in the fall.
“I’m trying to look at other schools,” former Track and Field team member and sophomore Dyson student Alexia Fulton said. Since the cuts were only announced over the summer, Fulton explained that she had no choice but to return to Pace this fall. However, she expects to have transferred out by the spring of 2013.