YEAR IN REVIEW
CLUB SPORTS EXPRESS CONCERNS OVER REDUCTION I N R E S O U R C E S A N D C U T S I N B U D G E T A N D S TA F F I N G field conditions. Reilley said that this past fall, 12 clubs requested funding and only the esports and equestrian club teams had their requests approved. He said lub sports play an integral role in the lives decisions to approve requests were based on the of many Ithaca College students, giving them the amount of funds the club was asking for, along opportunity to further pursue their passion for with the purpose for the request and the club’s athletics. However, many club sports members account balance. have concerns that the Office of Campus RecreWhile the budget for club sports is significantly ation is unable to properly meet the needs of these lower than previous years, Reilley said he believes clubs because of a lack of resources, funding and that the program has sufficient funding to help staff members. each club meet its needs. The Office of Recreational Sports manag“We’re not in a place where we wanted to be es a total of 39 clubs, including 27 competitive financially,” Reilley said. “[But] we are in a place club sports teams. There are more clubs for stu[where] everyone’s going to be able to have what dents to participate in than varsity sports, as the they need for the rest of the year.” college has 25 varsity teams. The clubs are overseen Many clubs also expressed concerns that the by Lauren Hoffman, program coordinator for recreprogram is unable to provide each club with suffiational sports, and Sean Reilley, associate director cient practice time. The college announced all club of recreational sports. Both Hoffman and Reilley sports activities were canceled for the remainder of are the contacts for around half the groups, as ReilFall 2021 on Dec. 8, when the college moved to ley primarily aids 19 clubs and Hoffman supervises a Yellow: Low to Moderate Risk COVID-19 opera20 clubs. tional status. However, varsity–athletic programs The program also had a third staff member were permitted to continue practicing, despite not prior to the pandemic, Bradley Buchanan, forhaving any remaining competition before the end mer assistant director for recreational sports. of the semester. Buchanan retired from the college in May 2021, Elster said there were multiple occasions but had not worked with club sports since the in which his team was unable to practice at the 2019–20 academic year. Senior Brady Elster, presAthletics and Events Center because another ident of the men’s club–lacrosse team, said that club team’s practice took precedence. He recalled while he believes Reilley and Hoffman are makan instance in which the rugby club’s regular pracing a strong effort to accommodate each club, tice field was in poor condition due to weather and he feels that the program could benefit from the club was in season, displacing the men’s lacrosse additional staffing. club from its practice facility. Reilley said that the “[The Office of Recreational Sports practice schedule is made prior to the start of staff] is essentially two people, when it each semester and is based on the availabilused to be three,” Elster said. “So I ity of the club and whether the group is think maybe that is overwhelming in season. or overburdening [Reilley and “There’s been definitely some Hoffman]. … So I think maybe miscommunication on part of the because of that it’s just harder [recreational sports] people to to manage and successfully adjust let us know and coordinate dress each club’s needs on a that a little bit better,” Elster said. given day, just because they’re “They’ve sent out emails before trying to tackle so much.” where they said we’re both allowed Since March 2020, the colto practice, but that ended up not lege has furloughed or laid off being the case. And we had to show at least 264 staff members due up and just essentially cancel on the to the impact that the COVID-19 spot two times this semester.” pandemic had on the financial The clubs utilize several of the state of the college. The college college’s varsity facilities, including Higis also feeling the effects of the gins Stadium, Glazer Arena and the Kelsey national labor shortage, which has Partridge Bird Natatorium. The programs resulted in understaffing issues within also have access to multiple grass fields, many offices and departments. like Emerson Field and Yavits Field. ReilThe club sports program is curley said Emerson Field is currently not rently facing substantial budget being used. He said the program works decreases, as Reilley said its budto distribute facilities to the clubs that are get has been lowered from $90,625 Junior Kailey Rothenberger is the vice president of the club softball team. Brooke Vogel/The Ithacan
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before the COVID-19 pandemic in the 2019–20 academic year to under $50,000 this year. The college as a whole is making budget cuts, decreasing its operating expenses by $42,795,844 from the 2020 to 2021 fiscal years. The college’s budget will increase to $222,276,717 in the 2022 fiscal year, which spans from July 1 to June 30, as previously reported by The Ithacan. “Relative to our last normal budgeting year, the total amount of money available to club sports has decreased very dramatically,” Reilley said. “That’s kind of in line and to be expected with the current financial state of the college and just getting things back on track.” The office implemented a new funding request system for the 2021–22 academic year, allowing all clubs to request funding throughout the year when they believe it is necessary. Reilley said funding requests are reviewed by professional staff and the Club Sport Council. Previously, only competitive club teams were able to submit funding requests before an academic year. Reilley expressed that this system could not be continued with the program’s decrease in funding because there were some clubs that had not utilized all of their funding in previous years, preventing other clubs from getting the resources they needed. Reilley said that some teams had rented facilities in the past but were unable to use them because of poor
