Athletic cuts result in delay of Harford campus building
Citing the recent decision to cut men’s soccer and baseball, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and Comptroller Peter Franchot have refused to move forward with Towson’s planned construction of a satellite campus building on the Harford Community College campus.
Franchot spoke out in Wednesday’s state Board of Public Works, Patch reported, saying the state will delay the project until President Maravene Loeschke can explain the decision in full. Franchot told Patch he read did not believe the rationale behind the cuts, calling the decision “bizarre.”
“I think this is a severe black mark on the record of an otherwise exceptional University, and it’s one that, frankly, reflects poorly on the entire University System of Maryland,” Franchot said in a statement from his office.
Loeschke will appear before the Board of Public Works Wednesday, April 3 at 10 a.m. to defend her actions, according to a Facebook post by Len Foxwell, Franchot’s chief of staff. Foxwell posted the announcement on the “Save Towson Baseball” Facebook page, a social media movement run by supporters of the team.
“As most of you know by now, the Comptroller is deeply frustrated and troubled by the decision to eliminate the men’s baseball and soccer programs, and by the manner in which this entire matter has been handled with the coaches, student-athletes, parents and other stakeholders. He has called upon Towson’s leadership to reverse this decision,” Foxwell said in the post.
Loeschke told the Towerlight Wednesday, March 13 there was no chance she would reverse the decision.
University Senate Vice Chair Emmanuel Welsh and Student Government Association President Brandy Hall drafted a letter to O’Malley and Franchot Thursday expressing concerns as to why the decision to cut athletics would interfere with an academic initiative like the Harford building.
“I think it sets a dangerous precedent and frankly, I think it’s irresponsible,” Welsh said in an email. “This academic building will allow Towson to meet the demands for more four-year degrees and graduate degrees in Northeast Maryland. The Governor and the Comptroller are stalwart advocates for access to quality and affordable education, therefore their decision to place a hold on a totally unrelated appropriations request–to use the Comptroller’s word–is ‘bizarre.’”
In the letter, Welsh and Hall adamantly defend Loeschke and her competency as president. Welsh said that he was taken aback by Franchot and O’Malley’s words at Wednesday’s meeting, which Welsh said they based solely on one report from WBAL’s Kieth Mills, who crticized Loeschke’s decision in an online broadcast.
” I was completely dumbfounded by their total reliance on a single commentary by Mr. Mills and the fact that they did not afford Dr. Loeschke the benefit of the doubt,” he said.
In a statement Wednesday afternoon, Loeschke said that she welcomes the opportunity to meet with Franchot and O’Malley.
“There have been several inaccurate reports around this process, and I welcome the opportunity to clarify the details,” Loeschke said in the statement.
Marina Cooper, Loeschke’s deputy chief of staff, said Loeschke has attempted to correct those “inaccuracies” in media reports.
“Based on what I am seeing, it seems there are questions about the process, and not necessarily the decision,” Cooper said in an email.
Loeschke and Director of Athletics Mike Waddell, who in October made the recommendations to the cut the sports, have maintained the cuts are to ensure the fiscal solvency of the athletics department, as well as compliance with Title IX legislation and “the competitiveness” of athletics.
The Harford Community College building was long-term project started under the tenure of former President Robert Caret. Construction was set to begin in the spring and end by fall 2014. Students would be able to take courses in psychology, information technology, sociology, criminal justice, business administration, early childhood education and elementary education.
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I’m quite sure Loeschke’s plan to “clarify the details” means she plans to spit out the same outrageous lies as before, justifying her decision to cut these long-term programs even when all the facts show the actual truth to be otherwise. The Governor and Comptroller have chosen to admirably demand an accurate explanation and hold the administration accountable for this circus that has damaged the reputation of Towson University.
i think the word is out that she lied to everyone. These men are way to smart to be fooled by her. Time
for her to face the music.
The Comptroller is rightly outraged by this decision, and the arrogant method of informing the student athletes and the coaches also draws his ire.
This embarrassment has reached – ESPN, Deadspin, the Patch, etc.
On the Friday March 8th meeting where the president briefly spoke to the students (accompanied by armed guards); was the Towerlight informed/invited? If not, why not?
It would be nice to have an account of – how many armed guards, pictures of the ‘entourage’, the duration of the talk, etc.
If the Towerlight was not informed/invited – it speaks volumes.
Certainly, there have been conflicting accounts of the guards, etc. I find any information coming from the administartion to be less than credible.
I am not understanding how anyone was surprised by this announcement. It was announced back in October and talked about on campus for over a year and a half as a possibility.
Was the Towerlight invited to the private discussion between the President and the players? I doubt it. Why would the media be invited to such an event.
These elected officials inserting themselves into this situation is ok by me, but since the state gives no direct funding to athletics they really have little ground to stand on when criticizing the way that money is spent. Judging from the State’s budget they should be spending more time worrying about their own budget and less time on what sports schools are sponsoring.
The Title IX argument is bull and so are these financial or competitive arguments. My only wish was that this meeting was under oath and under penalty of perjury.
The grill is warming up in Annapolis and I can’t wait for these lies to go up in flames.
Where’s that money for the new arena coming from? Where do the salaries come from? To argue that the state provides no help in funding athletics is just nonsense.
Can not wait until Mike Waddell gets fired for all of this. Time to pay the piper Mike Waddell, you ass hat!
I agree with holding this up. If they cant handle the athletic department funds why trust them with the funds for a new facility.
Really, based on a lone report – hardly. This made national news – ESPN, USA Today, deadspin, etc.. How the announcment was made to the student-athletes and the time frame they were given to be at the meeting – they were pulled out of class. Their coaches were not allowed to be with the players – they were in a separate room being given their termintion papers. Was the Towerlight given an opportunity to be present when the players were informed of this decision – if not why? By the way, this is not a budget cut,but a REALLOCATION OF FUNDS according to the website set up by the school. Since they cut these two sports, they SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED to bring another sport in just to maintain Division 1 status.
I think its blatantly obvious that this “puppet president” is an absolute embarrassment to Towson. She needs to be relieved of her duties as soon as possible. I can’t believe an alum is trying to destroy the image of their own University. Unreal.
The President just isn’t that smart. That’s the problem.
I believe that Marina Cooper is misreading the outpouring of outrage about this situation. People believe strongly that the President made the wrong decision. People believe that Title IX was used to coverup profligate spending. There were a number of other paths available that were never seriously considered, as reportedby by people very knowledgeable about the process inside the university. The process was so flawed from the very beginning that it is easy to get the public,s attention by talking about it. But she should not interpret that attention to process as support for the decision. On all levels, the decision was wrong and now people like the Comptroller and Governor who have no skin in this game, are using whatever power they have to right this terrible wrong.
what a shame, i wonder why no police officers came forward to her defense, she stated there was only one undercover policeman present, she said that on the record. whether there is a baseball or soccer program next year is not the issue at this point. The real issue is the president actually believes herself……..that is a real problem…..it is actually a scary thing. I challenge all Towson law enforcment to come forward and say there was uniform police present at that building…..it is fact that there was uniform police inside of the building as well as outside of the building.
If you have not taken the time you should read the actual report that was issued on this topic.
http://www.towson.edu/president/athleticstaskforce/documents/TUAthleticsReport3-8-13Web.pdf
Page 5 outlines the history of sports that have been dropped at Towson and the previous Title IX adjustments that have been done in the past.
Page 15 outlines the various options that were considered by the President. As the table shows, only two options appeared to satisfy the goal of achieving the three priorities. Both of the options involved the elimination of teams.
The first of these scenarios is Option 4 in the table. It would eliminate three teams (men’s baseball and soccer, and women’s field hockey). It would also add two teams (men’s tennis and woman’s rugby). This option would impact 86 athletes and would unnecessarily eliminate one women’s team with history at
TU in favor on starting a new women’s team sport.
The second option that satisfied the priorities is Option 6. It would eliminate two teams (men’s
baseball and soccer) and add one team (men’s tennis). It would affect 62 athletes. It is designed
as a Title IX Gender Equity Prong 1 approach that achieves the proportionality requirement of
61% female undergraduate enrollment to 61% female sports participation. This change is done
in a manner that provides for funding to improve both academic and athletic competitiveness
and a balanced budget. Option 6 was selected as the best option to achieve the overarching
strategic priorities. It involved fewer teams and athletes. It avoided eliminating a women’s
team, which may have had a negative impact on achieving Title IX compliance. Finally, its
financial results were similar to Option 4. As discussed below, TU ICA would be self-supporting
and would provide the flexibility to invest in competitiveness.
Page 17 is a full financial breakdown of how the funds from the dropped sports will be reallocated. If you read this you will see that no additional dollars are to be used with men’s sports… football, basketball or lacrosse. An additional ICA cost will result from adding a men’s tennis team to the
program. It will cost approximately $100,000 per year. It will mean that TU has
19 sports teams, 13 women’s teams and 6 men’s teams.
o There will be new funds for scholarships to improve athletic and academic
competitiveness across all teams, and meet Title IX benchmarks for gender
equity. These investments will begin in FY2016 at $250,000 and it will grow to
$500,000 by FY2018.
o There will also be budget reallocations to women’s teams beginning at $160,000
in FY2014, and growing modestly from that point.
o During the period there may also be strategic investments in student academic
success and revenue raising activities.
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