FAMU Cuts Athletic Budget

Special to the NNPA from the Capitol OutlookTALLAHASSEE, Fla. (NNPA) — Florida A&M University has cut four of its sports to help balance its athletic budget for the 2005-2006 year.The FAMU Board of Trustees voted unanimously to approve the budget which will eliminate the school’s golf, men’s tennis, and men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs. Interim Athletic Director E. Newton Jackson said the move would save approximately $600,000.Overall, FAMU’s athletic budget would be reduced by $3.3 million to about $6.7 million, a level comparable to before the school’s 2003 attempt to move its football program from division 1-AA to 1-A. That also includes a reduction of $1.7 million in scholarships.Trustee R. B. Holmes voiced serious reservations about making such a move, but ultimately voted for the budget. He said the cuts made him uncomfortable because of the under-representation of Blacks in those sports.However, noting that the budget is required to be balanced by law, Interim President Castell Vaughn Bryant said that the school would look at re-instituting the programs at a later time.Jackson said that the coaches, who are employed at FAMU in other areas, would be able to keep their other positions with the university. He said that they had offered to coach the teams for free.He also said that the school would either honor the scholarships of the affected athletes or release them to attend and compete at other schools. NCAA rules would allow them to immediately transfer and compete at another school in the same sport that was eliminated here. He said that less than 40 students would be effected by the elimination. ”We all know that part of straitening out our fiscal situation is going to be painful,” said Trustee Al Cardenas. Again citing the legal requirement for a balanced budget he added, ”But we need to get our affairs in order so that our alumni and boosters will feel comfortable in giving money to the university.”Another part of the plan would see less traveling for FAMU’s ”Marching 100.” Traditionally, travel for the 400-plus member band came out of the school’s athletic budget. However, that funding will now come from somewhere else. But university officials say that will not affect the band’s appearances at the Atlanta Classic against Tennessee State and the Florida Classic in Orlando, against Bethune-Cookman.Jackson and Bryant were commended by the board for making the tough decision necessary to balance the budget.###