May 9, 2010
by John David Reynolds | Webmaster
John David Reynolds speaks with Dean of Athletics Mitch Campbell. Photo by Jack Remson
City College has 18 sports programs and, as with many bigger universities, athletic programs have been trimmed or cut altogether.
“As of right now, I don’t know what is going to happen,” said City College Dean of Athletics Mitch Campbell.” I hope we can keep all of our programs, but I cannot say for certain.”
The University of California, Davis recently had to cut four sports teams, a move that had repercussions beyond the campus of UC Davis itself. City College had two All-Americans planning to go to UC Davis on wrestling scholarships, but they found out a week after receiving their offers that Davis would be cutting its wrestling program.
“Right now there’s 10 UC schools in the state of California, and out of those ten, with Davis dropping, none of them carry wrestling,” said David Pacheco, City College’s wrestling coach.
Two All-American wrestlers at City College were planning on attending UC Davis, but they found out a week after receiving their scholarship offers that Davis cut their program.
“Wrestling’s the sixth most popular sport in California and the nation, yet we give them zero opportunities to go to UC schooling and participate in that sport,” Pacheco said.
However, before City College can start cutting programs, the City College budget must be passed by the City College Strategic Planning Committee, or CSPC and through the office of the City College president.
One of the latest protests was on April 21 at the Capitol. Photo by Jack Remson
There have been numerous protests at the state Capitol in 2010 over cuts to education funding that have affected parents, students, faculty, staff and administrators. The protests highlighted the increasing public anger over cuts to higher education, and the growing question of whether higher education is a privilege or a right.
City College has not been immune to the budgetary issues afflicting other colleges. Going into the 2009-10 school year, the estimated shortfall to the state budget was $24.3 billion. Currently, according to the Office of the Governor, California is dealing with a $19.9 billion deficit for the 2010-11 year.
Managing the financial damage to the school system is difficult, with City College taking an expected $25.1 million reduction going into the 2009-10 school year and incurring an additional $5.29 million increase in expenses, said Robert Martinelli, City College vice president of Administrative Services.
“Because of the budget crisis, we are planning for the next three years,” Martinelli said. “We are always executing a plan of action while looking over the date from a previous year and planning for the years to come. So really it’s like dealing with five years at once: this year, the previous year, and then the next three years.”
City College students have a chance to play a part in the fiscal future of the school. Interested parties can apply for one of the four chairs on the CSPC.
“It is possible for students to assist in this process; they just have to be willing to speak up. Get involved.” Martinelli said.
Wrestling Coach David Pacheco. Photo by Chris McClain
The committee plays an important role in shaping the budget. Other than the four student members, it is made up of numerous deans, department chairs, faculty and classified staff, with its job being to plan for the upcoming fiscal year by reviewing all the data from the previous year.
This is a tedious and time consuming task, but the most important part of this is that all the division heads have to submit unit plans, or objectives to the CSPC. The CSPC looks over these plans and objectives and measures them against the goals and objectives of the school, to decide where the money goes.
“It is important that, in the process, students who get involved in this process should not show up favoring one objective over another, but look to support the big picture,” said Martinelli.
The budgetary future is still up in the air for the next few years at City College, according to Martinelli.
At the time of publication, no final decision has been made on the unit plans provided by each division to the CSPC, but even after the CSPC puts together their final plan, it will be passed on to City College President Dr. Kathryn Jeffery, who could possibly overturn the plan all together and present an entirely different approach.
City College men’s wrestling coach and athletics instructor David Pacheco talks about possible cuts to the campus’s wresting program.
Produced by John Reynolds and Christopher Geanakos
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[...] Special Feature Reporting A clouded game plan [...]
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Mr. Pacheco and Mr. Ulrich,
Moments ago, I listened and read Coach Pacheco’s article that he was featured in titled: A Clouded Game Plan…
Although my Wrestling background is not as extensively decorated as yours and others; however, it has impacted me positively in many ways for my mind, time and energy to be consumed with concern for me to “take a stand” to keep Wrestling alive and flourishing.
It is sad news to see our California College and Universities Sports programs are suffering tremendously due to the budget cuts. It is not fair for Wrestling in California Colleges and Universities, which is an honorable sport, to be subtracted or “cut” completely from our school systems. In my opinion, it is a slowly dying art that needs to be preserved. We as a community need to prevent the sport of Wrestling from being “dropped like flies”. The drive, energy and time that Wrestlers have in competition is the same level of drive, energy and time needed to be put into saving our Wrestling program(s).
Is there already something in the works as far as raising money or a fundraiser to promote saving Wrestling from being cut?
How do we get local community figures such as, Urijah Faber, Kenneth Alexander, Joseph Benavidez, Danny Castillo, Mike Ortega, Justin Buchholz, Dustin Akbari, TJ Dillashaw, Kyacey Uscola and the the rest of Team Alpha Male to get involved with helping out with saving Wrestling from being dropped? Faber’s Team Alpha Male influence(s) can have a huge impact with fundraising or somehow be involved with, spreading the word or bringing the awareness through advertisement (e.g., YouTube, Websites, etc.) to the public who are not too familiar with Wrestling’s struggle to “stay in business”. Because of Faber’s celebrity status and influence he has, he can help support and raise money than most would not be able to afford but would like to. Urijah has drawing power from seats in attendance at the Arco Arena to Pay-per-view(s) on television. I see why not. It is just an idea. What do I know? It is probably easier said than done, but it is worth a shot in attempt to bring public awareness to save Wrestling. By the way, this idea came from what I see Cal Poly’s Wrestling Alumnus, Chuck Liddell , Chad Mendez and others from the Mixed Martial Arts community are doing to save their program. I have some ideas and maybe I can talk to John Reynolds from the school paper and see what we can do. It’s just food for thought. Let us continue to have the opportunity for Wrestling in our California Colleges and one day, again, our Universities.
Semper Fidelis, R.T. Asuncion
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[...] Check out the story by John Reynolds: A clouded game plan [...]
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