By The Beacon Editorial Board
We applaud the administration for bringing women's crew to the University of Portland. This sport has strong support at the university given the presence of a successful club team students have managed to maintain despite funding challenges.
It is also commendable that UP is now in compliance with the requirements of federal statute of Title IX, which attempts to maintain equality of opportunity among men's and women's sports.
According to Athletic Director Larry Williams, women's crew is a great use of university resources. Their facilities will eventually be located on the new riverfront property and crew's large roster will provide a great deal of athletic opportunity for UP students.
Unfortunately, in the wake of the new addition of crew, the golf program was discontinued.
It is regrettable that younger golfers who are freshmen and sophomores now have to deal with the complicated process of transferring schools if they choose to leave the University of Portland, some of them undoubtedly will.
Even though golf players' scholarships remain after the discontinuation of the program, these students came here to play golf. Now they must start over again looking for a school to fit their needs.
Moreover, it seems harsh that the golf team was not informed of the discontinuation of their program until the night before the decision was made public.
Williams said all UP sports were evaluated before deciding to discontinue the golf team. According to Williams, golf just wasn't up to par in comparison with other the sports evaluated.
All in all, the decision seemed to be a trade off between golf and crew. As much as it is regrettable to lose 16 great golf players, a decision needed to be made and it appears to have been done so fairly.
However, it is unfortunate that the golf program's dismissal sets a dark cloud over the new crew program that it does not deserve.
