Trustee task force recommends improvements in athletics programs

By Jacquie Powers

A task force of the Cornell Board of Trustees has made recommendations to President Hunter Rawlings that are aimed at improving the university's competitive position in intercollegiate sports and maintaining the high quality of its other athletic and recreational programs.

The "Report of the Trustee Task Force on Athletics" was presented at the March trustee meeting by task force Chair Robert D. Kennedy. (A full text of the report will be available electronically at http://www.athletics.cornell.edu/taskforce/.)

"The task force was asked by the trustees to look at the entire range of athletic offerings at the university, both intercollegiate and non-intercollegiate," Kennedy said. "The report focuses primarily on the intercollegiate programs because the quality of the other programs appears to be among the best in the nation."

Board Chairman Harold Tanner complimented the task force "on an outstanding report. This report was carefully prepared and was based on considerable research, including conversations with many of the constituencies interested in athletics. Moreover, this report -- and the goal it sets forth -- supports the university's overall commitment to excellence."

Rawlings thanked the task force for its work and said that in the next few months he will issue a plan that strengthens Cornell's commitment to athletics within the context of improvements in undergraduate life.

"I thank trustee Kennedy and the trustee task force for conducting such a careful, thorough and consultative study of athletics at Cornell," Rawlings said. "We have made the undergraduate experience a top priority for improvement at Cornell, and this report fits well into that agenda. With a careful strategy for priority setting, as the report recommends, and a well-designed endowment campaign, I believe we can improve our intercollegiate athletic program, while at the same time maintaining our first-rate programs in intramurals, fitness, outdoor recreation and physical education. We will accomplish this without sacrificing other financial priorities, including our academic budgets."

The trustees chartered the task force in the spring of 1998 to look broadly at all aspects of the university's athletic program. The task force interviewed students, faculty, staff, administrators, coaches and alumni.

The task force also recommends that the university:

• Maintain the existing level of excellence in the university's non-intercollegiate athletic programs;

• Define and strive for competitive success in intercollegiate athletics in terms that:

  a.are meaningful to the experience of student athletes, coaches and the university community as a whole;
  b.adhere to the integrity of the Ivy League principles; and
  c.provide a level playing field and an equal opportunity for Cornellians to garner their share of championships in those sports in which the university chooses to compete at the highest level.

• Invest between $8 million and $10 million in several intercollegiate facilities, such as Schoellkopf Field and Schoellkopf Hall and the boathouse, to improve or expand them. Expand or replace Helen Newman Hall;

• Develop and implement a fund-raising program to create an endowment sufficient to support a competitive Ivy League intercollegiate athletics program. "Such an effort should be done in concert with the university's other priorities, while acknowledging the role athletics plays in the living and learning environment at Cornell," the report said;

• Review the funding of maintenance and utilities for the athletic facilities to look for efficiencies and savings;

• Address the recruitment and admissions processes for student athletes; and

• Monitor and periodically report to the trustee Committee on Academic Affairs and Campus Life on the progress toward achieving the aforementioned recommendations.