Petitions have been started to save the Dartmouth College and UMass Dartmouth swimming programs cut at both of those schools this month.
More than 4,000 people have signed the petition for UMass Dartmouth, whose men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs were cut July 1. The petition was started by Sydney Cayer, a UMass Dartmouth commit in the high school class of 2020.
“The disbanding of the team severely hurts the lives of the athletes, but the reputation of the school,” Cayer wrote. “As someone who was a swimmer for ten years, I always knew UMass Dartmouth as a force to be reckoned with. So many students want to swim for this school because of how successful it is. Not only for the success, but for the family created. Taking away the swim and dive team means taking away a family. Swim and dive is always a sport that is fought for. No one takes it seriously and I am willing to fight for it again. I have fought my whole life for an opportunity to swim. I will continue to fight.”
The Dartmouth College campaign has an Instagram account with more than 2,000 followers as of Saturday afternoon. The petition was just shy of 3,000 signatures by Saturday. Dartmouth’s swimming program was among eight cut by the college this week. From the petition:
“The men and women of the Dartmouth Swimming & Diving Team stand united in the face of the College’s unjust decision. We have trained together, competed together, and learned side by side the rewards of hard work and endurance. If our experience as a multidimensional family of student-athletes has taught us anything, it is to not be deterred by a challenge. This is no exception. We implore you, our fellow Dartmouth students, family members, friends, and alumni, to join us in the fight to reinstate our team.”
The campaign includes ways to help beyond signing:
Four-year colleges have eliminated some 171 athletic teams because of budgetary cuts or school closures associated with the coronavirus pandemic (51 in Division I, 56 in Division II, 52 in Division III and 12 in NAIA). The list of aquatic sports dropped, based on research by the Associated Press, through July 10 (x-denotes school closure; y-effective in 2021):
DIVISION I
Men’s swimming (3): y-Connecticut, East Carolina, Western Illinois.
Synchronized swimming (1): y-Stanford.
Women’s swimming (3): Boise State, East Carolina, Western Illinois.
DIVISION II
Men’s swimming/diving (2): Tiffin, x-Urbana.
Women’s swimming/diving (2): Tiffin, x-Urbana.
Women’s water polo (1): Sonoma State.
DIVISION III
Men’s swimming (1): UMass-Dartmouth.
Women’s swimming (1): UMass-Dartmouth.
https://www.change.org/p/the-dartmouth-administration-save-dartmouth-swimming-diving
Signed and Shared
Signed
Apparently, a Hanlon doesn’t know his student body and certainly not the swim and dive student athletes!?! Class of 24 admission profile stats – swim and dive admission scores SAT 1502 entire class 1501; swim and dive ACT 33.40 entire class 33. They earned their admission spots with academics and athletics skills are extra. Their admission stats are higher than the rest of the class…his rationale is not supported by data and facts…why did he choose swim and dive to cut??