By Lisa Spencer
In light of the recent referendum, where two-thirds of voting Carleton University students rejected a $11.31 increase in tuition to support athletics, it would seem that one could kiss a good number of varsity sports goodbye.
The referendum held Feb. 9 and 10, asked students if they would support a levy to help maintain the status of certain varsity sports at Carleton. The endorsement of this hike would have provided an added $155,000 for athletics next year.
However, even though the increase was rejected, there may still be hope for the athletes and fans.
Last Friday, swim team coach Tarek Raafat, a group of swimmers and alumni made their recommendations to the Board of Athletics. The group asked the board to consider the student support for the sport and the team’s own success. They have sent finalists to the national level every year since 1986. They also asked that all varsity teams be given the opportunity to improve on their evaluations.
“This is the first time we were ever evaluated,” said Raafat. “If we could see what the criteria was, then we would meet that criteria.”
That meeting marked the beginning of a two-week period when varsity coaches and athletes will have the opportunity to make their final pleas for reconsideration to the board.
“After all the presentations are made, we’ll be able to look at and compare all of them,” said athletics director Drew Love.
The swim team consists of 28 very diverse members. They range in ages from 18 to 35. There are both men and women on the team and, unlike any other varsity sport at Carleton, there is a disabled member on the team.
Yves Thauvette is a first-year student at Carleton who is in a wheelchair. He says being on the swim team is great because he’s never had a chance to compete at such a high level before.
“I selected Carleton because they accept disabled swimmers,” said Thauvette. “I’ve swam with swim clubs before and they don’t really push you, but here, I get treated like an equal and I train as hard as everyone else.”
If the swim team gets demoted to club status, Thauvette said he would have to switch schools to be able to train competitively to reach his goal, the Para-Olympics.
Swimming alumni would also withdraw their support if the swim team got demoted.
“It’s exhausting our volunteer resources and we’ve had enough,” said swimming alumni Tim Kilby at the meeting. “It’s hard to attract people to the swim team when the word in the paper is that we’re going to be cut.”
Another recommendation made by the swim team was that varsity sports be funded directly from the participating athletes’ tuition.
“It will be hard to attract athletes if we’re at club status,” said Raafat. “But if the athletes can feel that they’re making a direct contribution to their sport, they might be attracted to Carleton.”
This isn’t the first time that the future of the swim team has been threatened.
In 1996 the swim team was cut for two months after a recommendation from the athletics board.
“We were able to appeal that time because there was no evaluation, so we were being treated unfairly,” said Raafat. “But this time, it won’t be so easy.”
Although Love couldn’t comment on whether the swim team’s presentation had any effect on the board, he did state it was a good presentation.
“We hope to present the information to president Richard Van Loon sometime during the last week in February,” said Love.
“Hopefully he’ll be able to address the issues by early March.”