Sonoma State University, founded in 1961, is facing tremendous controversy after declaring that they are terminating the athletic department due to funding issues.
CSU Sonoma State has been struggling with a plummeting amount of applications for the past decade, causing extreme budget gaps. The termination of the athletic department has cost many to lose jobs and students desperately attempting to find new schools. Students and alumni are heartbroken by the news.
Sonoma State student and Riordan alumna Amaya Amador ’24 stated, “It is truly devastating. Tons of people are transferring, including many of my friends.”
Many students have said how the campus has begun to feel much “duller,” and how a once bright campus full of students getting ready for games is gone.
The budget cut did not only affect student athletes and coaches, but also alumni who have given money to the school and the whole student body.
Popular NBA player and Sonoma State alumnus Jaylen Wells visited Sonoma State to try and fight for the athletic department by speaking out about the budget cuts. According to CBS News, the Memphis Grizzlies rookie visited his former school after playing in the All-Star Game at Chase Center, home of the Golden State Warriors.
Wells told the gathered crowd, “I’m just hoping that we can find a way. I’m not sure entirely how I’m able to help, but that’s what I’m trying to do, you know, putting it out there as much as possible.”
The budget cuts did not only include sports themselves but around 20 majors as well, including: administrative services credential in educational leadership and special education; art history BA; art studio BFA; dance BA; earth and environmental sciences BA; economics BA; education leadership MA; English MA; French BA; geology BS; German minor; global studies BA; history MA; interdisciplinary studies BA; interdisciplinary studies MA; philosophy BA; physical science BA; physics BA; physics BS; public administration MPA; Spanish MA; theatre arts BA; women and gender studies BA.
In addition, “All ethnic studies programs — currently including the departments of American multicultural studies, Chicano and Latino studies and Native American studies — will be consolidated into one department offering a single major. The anthropology and human development programs will also merge, as will liberal studies programs.”
There are current lawsuits being filed against Sonoma state and angry parents protesting the change.
In April, according to KTVU, a judge ruled “that the administrators of Sonoma State University acted unlawfully when they made plans to cut some academic programs amid a major budget deficit. The judge also put a temporary order in place to bar university administrators from taking further steps to enact the planned cuts.”
However, on May 10, KQED reported the university can “move forward with its broad academic and athletic cuts temporarily.”
“Judge Kenneth English denied a preliminary injunction requested by six students who are suing the school over its decision to cut more than 20 degree programs, six academic departments and all 11 of its NCAA athletics teams,” KQED reported. “Their attorneys allege that Sonoma State failed to follow the California State University’s protocol for discontinuing academic programs and failed to provide meaningful evidence of the amount of money that discontinuing athletics would save.”
