Board of Regents Update
Written by Ryan Stratton on June 6th, 2009There was an opportunity to meet with the Board of Regents last week regarding the swimming program. The following is an update from Rick Colella, who attended the meeting:
“The UW BOR held an open public hearing on May 28th for interested parties to present their concerns with the proposed budget for next year. Swimming was also invited to attend. Each presenter at the meeting was limited to 3 minutes. The BOR listened to all the presentations but essentially made no comments or statements regarding any proposals. For swimming, Cat Clark appealed for the Boards help in restoring the swim program at the UW as an important component of the mission of the UW both in athletics and education as well as a vital part of UW history. Bill Patterson presented evident to refute any perception that there was a lack of swimming alumni support including a brief mention of the various obstacles we encountered from ICA in the past. Tom Price and Ralph Teller also spoke in support of the swimming program. Other presenters were in attendance opposing proposed budget cuts for the UW Women’s Center, proposed changes to the custodial staff work schedules, and the Against Budget Cuts (ABC) Coalition presented an alternative budget. Unlike the other presenters, swimming was not asking for additional money from the general UW 2009-2010 budget, but only the BOR support in pursuing reinstatement of swimming. There was no feedback on what action if any the BOR may take.”