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LOCK HAVEN -- Lock Haven University coaches have posed an alternative to cutting three sports. They recommend adding new ones instead.
Rodney Jenkins, vice president for university relations, said this was the coaches' response to the university administration's proposal to give the ax to women's swimming and to two men's teams -- indoor and outdoor track and field.
Adding athletics teams could help the university continue to meet Title IX requirements for equal opportunities for students and also increase revenue by attracting more student athletes, the coaches reportedly told Jenkins.
He said they are not necessarily wrong.
However, he said, adding one or more sports would require "a substantial increase in expenses -- and that's my biggest problem."
A new university sport starts out with two years of expenses before revenues begin to be seen, he said.
Representatives of the coaches union delivered an alternative proposal to Jenkins on Thursday evening, 30 days after the administration served the ball into their court.
The following day, students and one alumnus addressed the LHU Council of Trustees on the subject. The trustees did not speak about the subject during their public meeting Friday afternoon.
Student Jack Felt of Warminster will defend the 4×800 meter relay at the PSAC championships this weekend at Edinboro University. He asked the trustees to keep the men's track and field teams.
Brian Zimmerman of Mifflinburg has set the LHU record in the 200-meter dash and he is just a freshman. He told the trustees he would consider leaving the university if his sport is no longer available.
Sam Signor of the Harrisburg area, also an outstanding freshman in track, indicated much the same thing.
George Durrwachter, council president, gave the students kudos for the intelligent way they spoke and said he himself was on the track team at LHU in 1961.
"You gentlemen, you young athletes, are truly impressive," he said.
Dr. Michael Fiorentino Jr., LHU president, said he has met recently with the Student Athletics Advisory Committee and representatives of the student government. He complimented their ability to research the subject and articulate ideas that have substance.
Alumnus Mark Stern of Lock Haven, who was honored last year for his contributions to LHU athletics, spoke bluntly. He told the trustees they are functioning as "yes men" and encouraged them to do otherwise. He also said he knows many trustees personally and knows they "love The Haven" as he does.
He is a former volunteer on the LHU Foundation Board, has studied leadership skills and styles, and said he has invested millions in the community and will continue to support the university as his skills and finances permit.
But he also referred to the university's policy of having student athletes sign a form saying they would not speak to or through media about athletics without going through the sports information office.
"The current administration manages out of fear and strong-arm tactics," Stern said. "When these tactics are used on our most important asset, our students, it becomes a moral and ethical problem. You have the right to burn a symbol of the head of an incoming President, the right to burn the American flag, but when a 21-year old student… is harassed for talking to the press, we have a significant problem."
He told the trustees, "You have a moral and ethical obligation to fix this."
Dr. Stan Bedard, president of the faculty and staff union, said the coaches' contract does not limit the process of studying the athletics question to only 30 days.
The contract also does not preclude wide deliberation, he said, calling for more stakeholders to speak up and for the process to be "as transparent as possible."
"Every sport at Lock Haven without exception has brought… students to LHU," he said. He also asked how the university will replace the students who won't attend LHU because it does not offer their sport.
"In our present circumstances, coaches might well be our most effective recruiters," he said.
All options should be exhausted before sports are cut, he said.
Council member Deborah Suder expressed her appreciation for all who spoke. "We want to hear what's going on on campus," she said.
Title IX has "many moving parts," Jenkins said after the meeting. These include the amount of grant and aid that goes to student athletes as well as the ratio of the total number of athletes to the total number of students.
Last academic year, 53 percent of LHU's students were women, and that is the percentage the university must deal with this year, Jenkins said.
This academic year, the number of women students has increased to 55 percent which is a concern for the 2017-18 year, he said.
LHU athletes number 282 in women's sports and 267 in men's sports.
"We don't want to hurt the men's side so the women's numbers have to move up," Jenkins said. This means coaches must recruit and retain women athletes, he said.
Jenkins' report to the trustees included the news of a new athletics website that launched in January and can be found at www.golhu.com.
LHU reportedly has had track and field as a sport for 111 years.