Kutztown University kutz Men From Swim Team, Women Fight Back

Alumni, Swimmers & Parents Question the Real Cost of cutting the Men from the Swim Team.

On March 31, Kutztown University announced that it intended to discontinue the men’ s soccer and men’s swimming programs. According to the press release, the move is “expected to save the university up to $150,000 long term.” There are two stories here, the one the University wants to spin and the real truth that they don’t want known. Immediately the women swimmers joined up with the men and started to fight for their team. A Facebook group was formed, This group “Save Kutztown Swimming and Soccer” as of 5:00 PM EDT numbered 4,158 strong. The Kutztown Swim Team Parent Boosters have joined the fight. One Kutztown parent discovered that the domain KutztownSports.com was available and purchased the domain. http://www.kutztownsports.com is up and running with all of the details of this story as they are uncovered. In the official university press release, Greg Bamberger, director of athletics, stated that “We used a very thorough process to come to this conclusion.” It may have been thorough, but it certainly was not inclusive. A very few people made this decision without input from students, coaches, alumni, or athletes. It was supposedly based on a recommendation from a consulting company, Alden & Associates. To date, no supporting documentation has been provided by the university to any of the parent boosters. Requested documentation includes costs and cost saving associated with the teams, notes for the meetings in which this was discussed, the expected effect on Title IX proportionality, or any documents provided by Alden & Associates. The University has agreed to provide some or all of the requested documentation in personal meetings. URL for the KU Press Release: http://www.kutztown.edu/divisions/studentservices/depart ... The parent boosters have been able to discover the following about Alden & Associates by going to their home page. According to http://www.aldenandassoc.com: “Alden & Associates, Inc. is a female-owned consulting and retained executive search firm specializing in intercollegiate athletics. The firm focuses on executive search, with primary specializations in athletics administrators, head coaches, chief of staff/presidential assistants and general counsel search work. We also provide a wide range of intercollegiate athletics-related consulting services, such as feasibility studies, strategic plans, Title IX reviews, compliance reviews, personnel and organizational chart reviews, and program reviews.” You can draw your own conclusion here. The Kutztown Women and Men swimmers have several plans underway to try and get the university to reinstate the Men. Details will be released as they become available. You can help us fight by joining the Facebook Group, by going to our website and by emailing the University and Government Officials listed there.

# # #

The Kutztown Swim Team Boosters as a group consists of Parents,Athletes and Alumni of Kutztown University. We hold fund raisers and provide administrative support for the Kutztown Swim Team. Our current goal is to reinstate our men to the team.