In an historic referendum on February 2, students challenged the profile of athletics at UCSD, voting to raise their intercollegiate athletics activity fee by $78 per quarter. The increased budget will satisfy the new NCAA mandate requiring $250,000 in athletic aid for every Division II school, and pay off $300,000 of debt the department has accumulated since its move from Division III in 2000. In the highest turnout in UCSD history, 41.9 percent of the student body voted, and 56 percent voted in favor of the fee increase.
The department’s yearly budget will double to $3.6 million, which will allow it to provide $500 per student athlete. The remaining revenue will fund team operations, travel, equipment, staffing, insurance coverage and other such expenses for the 23 teams in the program.
“In the past, teams have been forced
to do an embarrassing amount of fund-raising just to have the opportunity to travel and play higher profile teams. Coaches have had to take second jobs or other coaching positions just to survive their low salaries and the high cost of living in San Diego,” Triton Athletes Council Chair Dan Noel says. “Now, with the funding our program deserves, UCSD athletics could very well become the top Division II athletics program in the nation as well as act as a unifying force on campus for both current students and alumni.”
—Neda Oreizy, ’08
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