Club sports now dependent solely on LUCC for funding

The administration recently made a decision to cease funding club sports through the athletic department. Club sports will now have to depend solely on LUCC for funding. There are two primary reasons for the decision. The first, as outlined by William Hodgkiss, vice president for business affairs and administration, concerns university finances. The original reason the athletic department began to fund club sports was that an annual donation of $12,000 was made to the university specifically for club sports. The money was simply channeled through the university.

Once the university stopped receiving the outside funding, it took it upon itself to continue to subsidize club sports through the athletic department. However, given the budget crunch currently facing the university, it is no longer viable for club sports to be funded by the athletic department

The second reason for the change is philosophical. Kimberly Tatro, director of athletics, felt that club sports were no different from other student organizations and therefore should not be subject to special treatment.

The change, however, isn’t really so much of a change, as club sports used to be funded exclusively by LUCC before the university received the donation mentioned above. The decision is therefore merely a return to the previous status quo.

The downside of the decision, obviously, is the loss of said $12,000, and the fact that an LUCC general fund budget already stretched to the limit will have to be stretched that little bit further. Students who participate in club sports will have little choice but to contribute more money, or else cease playing altogether.