Voicing Opinion on Mess at CSUN

It’s time to put up or shut up, time to speak up or forever be quiet.

On Tuesday night, from 7 to 9 at Cal State Northridge’s Performing Arts Center of the University Student Union, students, faculty and community members will finally have the opportunity to express their opinions about the future of Northridge’s athletic program.

The open community forum comes four months to the day after Northridge administrators tried to abolish four men’s sports.

It also comes just as Northridge’s Task Force on Intercollegiate Athletics is preparing to offer solutions and recommendations for the program’s future.

Said Dr. Keith Richman, chairman of the task force, “I view this as a very important meeting.”

Such a meeting should have been held before Northridge administrators made their ill-informed and ill-advised decision on June 11 to cut baseball, volleyball, soccer and swimming.

In hindsight, though, maybe it was a blessing that Northridge President Blenda Wilson, Vice President Ronald Kopita and Athletic Director Paul Bubb blundered so badly in failing to adequately consult with students and community members.

The subsequent public outcry forced them to accept the appointment of the special task force to investigate Northridge’s many athletic problems.

The task force has shown real independence and competence in six weeks of regular Monday night meetings. They’ve worked diligently, sometimes past 11 p.m. They’ve asked tough questions and sought out experts to help figure out the mess known as CSUN athletics.

And what a mess, indeed. From dealing with an $800,000 deficit to figuring out how to comply with gender-equity requirements to the absence of any long-range fund-raising plan, this is a department in serious need of help.

Coaches, students and athletes have complained about being deceived.

Dr. Fred Miller, former athletic director at San Diego State and Arizona State, bluntly called the department “flawed” because there was no direct line of communication to the school president.

“You’re going to continue to flounder,” he warned.

Baseball Coach Mike Batesole, in an emotional speech, told the task force, “When I came here, this place was running on heart, soul and passion. It isn’t anymore.”

One of the biggest problems facing Northridge athletics is lack of trust. Coaches don’t trust Bubb or Kopita and no one knows what Wilson really wants or thinks.

Look at the mixed signals sent out to the Northridge community:

* In the summer of 1996, Batesole signed a guaranteed three-year contract. A year later, there is no baseball team. The program is disbanded. (It was later reinstated for one year, along with the other three sports previously axed.)

* Last June, the school reports an $800,000 deficit in its athletic program. Three months later, a new athletics logo is unveiled at a cost of $26,000.

Is it any wonder people question the wisdom of writing checks to support Northridge athletics?

Northridge administrators have clearly drawn a line in the sand on conference affiliation. They want to stay in the Big Sky Conference because there are no other real options. That means they must be prepared to shell out large sums of money to play football.

Fine. Stay in the Big Sky. Keep football. But tell everyone how you’re going to pay for it and what sports will take the fall. And let the community decide if that’s the right course of action.

Students nor community members ever got to participate in the decision last summer.

Everyone must think long and hard at the ramifications of not having a baseball team.

It’s the signature sport of Southern California. Minnesota wouldn’t kill ice hockey; Indiana wouldn’t kill basketball; Iowa wouldn’t kill wrestling.

But here in the San Fernando Valley, with the Dodgers and youth baseball so prominent, Northridge administrators are trying to do the unthinkable.

Drop baseball again and the Northridge administration will once again face the wrath of the community. It won’t be in letters and faxes; the protests will come in hang-ups every time new fund-raiser Michael Rehm goes searching for dollars.

The only way out of this mess is shared sacrifice and creative thinking.

Students, Wilson and the community must all sacrifice. The students are sacrificing in the sum of $1.6 million each year in fees.

Wilson once gave $2 million from the general fund to athletics. It’s now $1.5 million.

That has to improve.

The community also must come through. Hundreds of people say they are ready and willing to donate money, time and effort to support Northridge athletics--but only when they are convinced the school has its act together.

Wilson held a community forum on academic issues that drew 30 people Wednesday.

The community forum on athletics Tuesday should far outdraw Wilson’s academic forum.

The small turnout for Wilson’s forum is not evidence that academics deserves lower priority than sports.

But a large turnout Tuesday will send another powerful message that this community cares about its sports programs and expects Wilson to show leadership and genuine interest in correcting wrongs of the past.

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Eric Sondheimer’s local column appears Wednesday and Sunday. He can be reached at (818) 772-3422.