Student-athletes, staff and alumni of Sonoma State University have launched a petition to urge the school to cancel a plan to eliminate all intercollegiate athletics at SSU as part of a proposal to cut spending by $20 million.
According to The Press Democrat, the four-day-old “Save Seawolves Athletics” petition had received 4,480 signatures on change.org as of Thursday morning.
The petition comes after the school announced last week that it will eliminate the entirety of its Division II athletics program as part of a massive round of layoffs and program cuts as the school prepares to deal with a larger-than-expected budget deficit.
Interim president Emily Cutrer said in a post on the school's website that the school now estimates a deficit of $23.9 million, significantly more than the previously projected $21 million. Cutrer said that the cuts agreed to have already reduced the deficit by $6.8 million.
On its website, the “Save Seawolves Athletics” campaign says that the decision to cut sports at the school “completely ignores the profound impacts that athletics have on the student-athletes, the student body, and the college itself, and sets a dangerous precedent putting all small-school athletics across the country in jeopardy.”
In addition to the petition, SSU coaches have filed two civil rights complaints and filed public records requests, seeking more information into the administration’s cost analysis and processes which they dispute.
Coaches also plan to file a class-action lawsuit.
