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The views expressed in this section of swiminfo are those of the individuals who have submitted letters to us. These opinions do not necessairly represent the view of swiminfo or Sports Publications. SwimInfo reserves the right to edit mail for space limitations.

11/27/02
I applaud your efforts in trying to bring swimming to the University of Oregon. Win or lose, your website has made a tremendous difference in the voting. Keep up the great work.

Coley Stickels

11/26/02
Dartmouth Swimming

To: Dartmouth College Administration

Dear Ms. Harper, Dean Larimore and President Wright:

Yesterday Dartmouth College dealt a devastating blow to 53 student-athletes, young men and women who came to Hanover in good faith and with high expectations to swim for their school. Now, you are telling these young people - many of whom you actively recruited - that the combination of the economic downturn and their inability "to stay competitive in swimming" means that their sport and their competitive careers are being sacrificed to protect, among other things, "recreational opportunities" and "club sports."

As parents of a sophomore on the women's team, we are distraught. We believe that you have broken an implied promise to our daughter and to us, and that you are now significantly and unilaterally altering our daughter's college experience in a negative way. Bait and switch can't be the Dartmouth way.

Your announcement to eliminate the Dartmouth men's and women's swimming and diving teams has already inflicted tremendous pain on the athletes, their families and coaches. We encourage you to reconsider your position and immediately reinstate swimming and diving as a varsity sport at Dartmouth College. By doing so, you will ease the pain and recapture the integrity you lost in placing the burden of Dartmouth's fiscal challenges on one sport and 53 dedicated athletes.

If the decision to shut down varsity swimming and diving is an economic one, there are other solutions. Please be motivated to find them. And, let team parents know how we can help. We are dedicated to our children's swimming and diving careers, and we will do what we can to preserve this sport for their benefit and for the benefit of those who come after them. And, please don't delay taking the right actions - an important part of our children's lives and futures is on the line. We need and expect you to do the right thing.

Parents' Perspective: What You've Done

* Degraded the college experience of 53 student-athletes. If you don't recognize the tremendous negative effect of this announcement on the swimmers/divers, you don't understand athletes who compete for the love of the sport and the honor of their school.

* Executed a bait and switch. Swimmers/divers made their decisions to attend Dartmouth based on having a team on which to participate. By eliminating the swimming and diving teams, you've switched the game mid-stream, stranding students between two bad decisions - staying and not swimming or finding another school at which to swim.

* Denigrated the performance of Dartmouth swimmers. It is unfair, inaccurate and insensitive to say that Dartmouth swimming has not been able to be competitive.

* Tarnished the Dartmouth brand. Being the only school in the Ivy League without a competitive swimming and diving teams does not reflect well on Dartmouth. And, admitting to having an outdated pool facility in poor repair suggests that Dartmouth is not able to keep up with the more prominent schools with which it chooses to compare itself.

* Discouraged recruiting efforts in all sports. After this decision, which blindsided students and parents, what athlete would willingly come to Dartmouth if he or she had any other choice? Your decision to make one sport bear the brunt of Dartmouth's fiscal challenge is a warning signal for all athletes to steer clear of a school that recruits them and then eliminates their sport without warning or consultation.

* Put our children in a panic. The stress that you have placed on team members is unimaginable. Now, instead of enjoying quality time with their families during Thanksgiving vacation, they will be focused on their next move, agonizing over staying at Dartmouth or leaving. And next term, instead of focusing on swimming/diving and academics, they'll be dealing with the trauma of the teams falling apart while exploring their options regarding where to matriculate in 2003-2004. For the many sophomore swimmers/divers who will be abroad in the spring term, the decision-making process is further condensed - creating more pressure.

The Commitment and Quality of Dartmouth Swimmers/Divers

Although you say that your decision to sacrifice the swimming and diving teams "in no way reflects the commitment and passion of the athletes," you should know that you have cut the legs from under the most grounded and disciplined students on campus. We know this because over the course of our daughter's one and one-half years participation on the women's team, we have come to know many of her teammates well. And, they are an extraordinary group. They deserve far better than the treatment that Dartmouth is giving them.

Incidentally, your remark about the teams' inability "to stay competitive in swimming" is entirely uncalled for (Q & A, page 4 of 9). Do you have any idea how good Dartmouth's men and women swimmers and divers are? Let there be no doubt about it: Swimming in the Ivy League is extremely competitive - far more competitive, we suggest, than, say, Ivy League football.

On Sunday, both the men and women annihilated the University of Vermont - not a swimming powerhouse, but a Division I school nonetheless - in the first out-of-league contest of the year. The Dartmouth women's team accomplished this by entering swimmers in their "off" or weaker events, and swimming "exhibitions" in the later events to avoid further running up the score in Dartmouth's favor. The women lost to Cornell the prior week by only a few points and likely would have won if top divers had not been injured. Last year, the Dartmouth women also defeated Vermont and claimed victories against the University of New Hampshire and Middlebury. They lost by only a few points to Army.

A Team on the Rise

This year, the women's team is significantly strengthened by a crop of outstanding freshman, several of whom scored big points against Harvard, a perennial Ivy League powerhouse, in the first dual meet of the year. And, there was extraordinary talent in the Class of '07 prospects, many of whom were so enthusiastic about Dartmouth (largely because of the recruiting efforts of the Coach Brislin and team members) that they applied early decision - to the benefit of the college. I can't imagine the outrage of these prospects and their parents at being duped by Dartmouth into foregoing their children's one chance at early decision acceptance.

Would these prospects have made Dartmouth a winner in women's Ivy League swimming and diving competition? Perhaps. It is still unlikely that Dartmouth would have been able to seriously challenge the "big dogs" in the Ivy League, with their larger enrollments and, dare we say it, additional accommodations to athletes. But, due to years of hard work and recruiting, the Dartmouth women were poised to surprise the opposition and begin moving up in the Ivy League rankings.

But is that really the point - to look good in the Ivy League? The fact is that swimming and diving at Dartmouth is different. Dartmouth provides an alternative that enables swimmers and divers to train and compete at very high levels without making the sport all consuming. At Dartmouth, swimmers/divers could combine athletics and scholarship to the benefit of both. While some of the members of the Dartmouth's women's team could have competed at Ivy League schools with more aggressive swimming/diving programs, they choose to attend Dartmouth because of the unique qualities of the swimming/diving team. By eliminating the Dartmouth team, you are eliminating an important option for swimmers/divers who want a more rounded Ivy League experience. We were under the impression that you understood the difference of swimming and diving at Dartmouth and supported the teams because they represent the purest form of collegiate athletics - even if they post more losses than wins in Ivy League competition.

There Are No Good Solutions for Dartmouth Swimmers/Divers

What do you say to my daughter - National Merit Scholar, Presidential Scholar and class valedictorian - who had her choice of top colleges, but choose Dartmouth because of the swim team? What do you say to us, her parents, who ignored her full scholarship opportunities and accepted the responsibility to fully fund her college education because we supported her love of swimming and the special atmosphere that the Dartmouth Swimming and diving team offered? (We are not, by the way, wealthy people and with two other children to educate, turning down full scholarships has a large impact on our family finances.) Perhaps we were misguided in encouraging her to follow her heart to Dartmouth, but what she saw on the swimming and diving team was so special that we knew that Dartmouth was the place she was meant to be.

She intended to swim and compete for Dartmouth for four full years. Now, you're taking that opportunity away her and diminishing her college experience no matter what happens. Stay and not swim? Leave Dartmouth and start all over? And, where? There are no good solutions for my sophomore daughter.

Is it really fair or sensitive to say to students that you've admitted, "If you want to swim, we'll help you transfer?" It makes us wonder if you understand college students, and especially athletes, at all. It makes us wonder if you are truly stewards of the Dartmouth legacy.

Swimming is a Way of Life

Please don't patronize us by telling our children or us that the thing to do is for former swimmers and divers to become involved in the Dartmouth community in other ways. Swimmers are swimmers, period. If the other 52 male and female swimmers are like our daughter - and we believe they are - these young people have made swimming a priority in their lives for 10 to 14 years- spending two to three hours per day training, six days a week, eleven months a year. Few other sports demand the discipline and commitment of swimming. If an athlete has stayed in swimming through his/her college years, by definition, you are dealing with an extraordinarily accomplished young person. Yet, because of the years of intense training, swimmers are not generally multi-sport athletes. And, yes, they possibly sacrificed being in the school play or participating on the debate team because they couldn't excel in their schoolwork, in the pool and in another time-consuming activity. Their athletic skills are not likely to be transportable. And competitive swimming - not club-level swimming or recreational swimming - is in their blood.

You Have an Opportunity to Correct Your Mistake

Your decision to eliminate the men's and women's swimming and diving teams is a horrendous mistake that will be a stain on your reputation in the athletic and academic world for years to come. (And, your complaints about the condition of the pool and your inability to repair it appear to us to be a red herring.) It unjust, inequitable and casts doubt on Dartmouth as a place of principle and integrity. Students are obligated to keep their commitments, but the college can change its based on short-term fluctuations in its investments.

While tremendous damage was done to our children and others yet to attend Dartmouth by your ill-advised press release, there is a small window for you to reverse the decision and minimize the damage. That is, putting your support behind the women's and men's swim teams and continue.

We implore you to reexamine your options and create solutions that allow our children to continue swimming and diving at Dartmouth. And, this time, involve the swimming/diving parents. We are a resourceful group and accustomed to accepting big challenges to enable our children to swim/dive. This matter is extremely important to the 53 displaced swimmers and divers, their parents, the coaches and to the Dartmouth community. Please do not let us down.

Sincerely,
Marilyn and Paul Bochicchio
41 Hunting Lane
Sherborn, MA 01770
508-650-4023
MbochAssoc@aol.com
Paul_Bochicchio@fleet.com, gbpaul@aol.com

11/26/02
Dartmouth Swimming

To whom it may concern:

My world just ended today. Dartmouth Athletic Department decided to cut their swimming and diving programs. I am sure you know all the facts and "reasons" that "justify" this cut, so I'd like to share my story because I am a person, not a dollar amount. We are all willing to talk and are not giving up without a fight, if there is anything you can do, we would appreciate it.

I started swimming when I was eight and have been training ever since. It was my dream, my ultimate desire to go to Dartmouth. I thought it was the perfect fit. It was outdoorsy, a great education, not in a city, the perfect size and exactly what I wanted with sports: enthusiastic team but not the intensity of some of the other more competitive Ivy's. I decided to come to Dartmouth 50% for swimming and 50% for it's reputation. I have been swimming on this team for only 10weeks, yet it has become my life, my family, my love. I swam in high school and for a club team, but I never felt the passion, the drive, or the loyalty that I found when I competed for Dartmouth. I am a freshmen swimmer, in love with my sport and my team. It offers me the best things in life and at Dartmouth... a sense on belonging, a work ethic, motivation, setting and achieving goals.... After every meet we discuss how we did and everyone that talks ends with, "And I'm happy to be here team." It was the best thing that I have ever done. However, today just ended all of that. Here is a email I sent the President of Dartmouth:

"As a member of the 06 class I feel let down, cheated and absolutely disregarded as a student, as an athlete and as a human. You clearly view me as disposable and this greatly upsets me. Having sat in a 2hour meeting and watch both my athletic director and the president of my college skirt issues and evade questions, I am both disgusted and upset. If the swimming had won Ivy championships last year - would the college even consider cutting our funding? Absolutely not. If you were true to both the idea of being an IVY LEAGUE institution as well as our own athletic department mission, then there is no valid excuse for choosing the swim team. Swimmers have much better grades and I find are much better citizens at the school than some other athletes. This sends a completely anti-academic message. Why cut the teams that live up to the ethos of the "student-athlete"? You are using us as the sacrificial lamb just when we were starting to have some real potential to improve. My class is EXTREMELY talented and our recruits were even better. I was so excited to be apart of a team that was building, but now I am not apart of a team at all.

If we were a priority, Dartmouth would find away to keep the swim program running.

MAKE US A PRIORITY.

My dream was to be a Dartmouth student-athlete, you have robbed me of half of my identity. The message you are sending to other student athletes, alumni, and all the other colleges that Dartmouth is second rate, doesn't care about their students, and will not stand behind their athletics all in a day's work - I hope you are pleased. "

While all of today was filled with tears and talks, the reality of the situation was hitting home. Here I am, a freshmen left with no team to swim on for the next four years. What should I do? I have been given many promtings by the administration to transfer. I don't want to transfer, I came to Dartmouth because I loved it. Yet, I have been swimming since I was 8yrs old, so I am left with a choice: Do I stay here and wonder what my swimming career could have been or do I leave and wonder what my Dartmouth career could have been? That is why I cry, because I am watching my best friends and teammates attempt to stay when in reality, the best move for their careers is to leave. We shouldn't have to be faced with a situation like this.

So please, I guess this is just a late night email, a desparate cry for help from a freshmen who feels like the world just robbed her of something she not only deserved but lived for.

Best Regards,
Liz Allen
Former Dartmouth Women's Swimmer

Quotable Quotes:

"We are 53 men and women with a lifelong passion for our sport, not 212,000 expendable dollars." - Maureen H. Ellinwood (03/Co-captian)

"Dartmouth has been my dream since I was 5years old... unfortunatly today turned it into a nightmare." - Liz Allen (06 sprinter)

"This devaluation of the swimming and diving team is an indication of the administration's respect, or lack thereof, for our community as a whole." -Alexandra Rogers ('05, non-athlete)

Finally, what I was forced to send out this afternoon:

As a former member of the women's swimming and diving team I feel let down, cheated and absolutely disregarded as a student, as an athlete and as a human. You clearly view me as disposable and this greatly upsets me. In lue of this, I would like to put in a request for a transfer form. Thank you. Liz Allen 06

11/26/02
Dartmouth Swimming

Dear Phillip Whitten and Swiminfo.com,

I am writing to you on behalf of the Varsity Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving Teams at Dartmouth College. If you have not already heard, the college administration decided without warning Monday morning to cut all funding for our programs.

The 53 members of both teams, along with our coaching staff, were not made aware that these cuts had been proposed until Monday morning just after 8:00, when we each received an email notifying us of a meeting to be held that same morning at 9:00. The teams feel that this was stategically planned to minimize opposition to the cuts. At the meeting, the present swimmers, divers, and coaches were informed that the teams would cease to exist following the current season, and short of a monetary miracle, there was very little any member of the swimming or Dartmouth community could do. Specifically, we feel that the cuts go against Dartmouth College policy to consult student body opinion before cutting any athletic program. In addition, in the online press release, the college cited as a motivating reason for the cuts the fact that "it would take an inordinate effort to make them [the teams] competitive". However, several teams with larger budgets than Swimming and Diving also have losing records, and the college has always maintained that rankings should not be the motivating factor driving college athletics.

Obviously, the 53 members of both teams are outraged and upset. While we are supported by many members of the Dartmouth community and have already begun to mobilize in defense of our program, we are turning to you for your expertise in helping to fend off these cuts. All we would like to do is get our team back so that we can compete and train in the sport that we have loved for so long.

For more information, you can view the press release that is linked to the Dartmouth College homepage, at www.dartmouth.edu. We greatly anticipate a chance to further explain our situation to you, and hope that you will be able to assist us in this matter. Given the upcoming Thanksgiving holidays, the best way to get in touch with the team is to reply to me at this email adddress or contact our men's and women's team captains, at the following addresses:

ps@dartmouth.edu (Paul Schned)
louis.fidel@dartmouth.edu
maureen.ellinwood@dartmouth.edu
julie.kowalsky@dartmouth.edu
mia.yocco@dartmouth.edu

Thank you very much for your time.

Sincerely,
Graig Peterson

PS. I have tried getting in contact with Judge Mike Jones and his Legal Defense team at jonesjudge@hotmail.com, but the email was returned to me bc this email address does not appear to be valid. Is there any alternative way of contacting him? Thanks.

11/26/02
Dartmouth Swimming

Dear Swimming World,

I am a freshman women's swimmer at Dartmouth College. As with the rest of my teammates, I was shocked at the decision of the College to eliminate our men's and women's swimming and diving program completely and without warning as of the end of this competitivive season. I awoke yesterday before a 10:00 AM class to find one email from an administrator asking me to attend a meeting that had taken place at 9 that morning. I later found out that this was when the swimmers were first notified of the College's decision. The email was sent to me at 8:08 that same morning. I had no further warning. At 10:00, just two hours after my coaches had been notified, the College went public with their decision.

I have been here for just ten weeks and already I have absolutely fallen in love with this team and the community that fosters it. I will do everything in my power to make sure that my team will stay together, continuing our long-standing tradition of excellence. We may not have the best record in the Ivy League. This, however, does not comprimise our commitment and dedication to a sport, a life, we love.

Our administrators see us as $212,000 a year, not people. Rather than reducing each athletic team's budget by less than 2%, they have chosen to cut us out entirely. On campus we have seen a magnificant outcry, exemplified last night when hundreds of students marched through campus, rallying on the lawns of our President and Dean. Dartmouth students have seen the effects of the administration's decision. Now we need the rest of the world, especially the swimming community, to view the injustice that has gone on here.

I strongly urge you to make this decision known to the world. We need to publicize the ridiculousness of the situation and develop a strong support system. If you are willing to help us make this known, I, along with the rest of the team, will provide you with any necessary information or contacts.

Please feel free to contact me at dana.l.charles@dartmouth.edu. I will be returning home for the Thanksgiving holiday tonight and will remain there until Sunday. My home phone number is (717)272-9584.

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration of this subject.

Dana Charles
Dartmouth Class of 2006
Swimmer