May 26, 2006:
The Board of Trustees announced that they intend to pursue a move to Division III, beginning with the 2007-2008 academic year. One lame-duck season in Division I, followed by an end to scholarship athletics. In addition, they announced plans to start football in Division III, complete with an on-campus facility. In related news, the Birmingham News reports that the NCAA was approached in February by an institution, requesting anonymity, seeking to explore a move from Division I to Division III.
So the question is twofold:
1) If we don’t have the money to stay in Division I, exactly where in the FUCKING FUCK do we have the money to start up the most expensive sport a college can play, and build it a new stadium to boot?
2) Has this move been in the works for three or four months now, and if so, why has so much effort been made to keep it secret?
May 28, 2006:
…This whole project stinks to the skies, what with the complete veil of secrecy until the last minute, the mysterious “anonymous school” approaching the NCAA about shifting down to III, and the apparent willingness to shovel money into the transition despite the dire financial straits that prompted the move in the first place. There’s only one explanation: David Pollick has wanted this from day one. He always intended to do this, because his vision for BSC is that we can be the next Sewanee, the next Centre, the next Oglethorpe, whatever. Coming in under the shadow of Neal Berte, he had to do something to make his mark right away – so he stirred the pot. Risible at best, contemptible at worst. For some reason, the trustees went along – maybe some of them look forward to fewer minorities coming through the gate, I don’t know – but I have yet to find a single student or alum who thinks that moving backward is a good idea.
BSC always found the money for everything else – science buildings, frat houses, whatever – so let’s not get caught up in the whole “follow the money” approach. This isn’t about money. It never was. If there was a serious commitment on the part of the administration, donors could be found, just as they have been in the past. This isn’t about money – this is about a new president wanting to remake a school in his own image…
Birmingham-Southern College today announced massive financial cuts to balance its budget, 110 days after serious fiscal irregularities were discovered that forced the school to cut spending by as much as $10 million a year.
The cuts include 51 staff members laid off; a decision not to fill 14 vacant staff positions; average pay cuts of 10 percent to remaining faculty, staff and administrators; suspension of the matching contributions to retirement plans; two one-week furloughs for all staff and administrators…
The financially beleaguered private liberal arts college announced late today that, with the start of the 2011-12 school year, it will no longer offer majors in those five subjects (accounting, computer science, dance, French and German – ed.) and that, over the next year, the school will eliminate 29 teaching positions.
The school’s music program will undergo “modification.” What kind of modification is under discussion, and school officials declined today to say more about possible changes.
About 150 BSC students are pursuing majors in the five programs set for elimination, school officials said.
The cuts will result in 12 faculty positions being eliminated effective with the start of this school year, which gets under way in about a month. An additional 17 faculty positions will be eliminated effective in the 2011-12 school year…