Washington
The University of the District of Columbia (UDC) will
reinstate its athletics program in the fall, thanks to a referendum
vote by students to increase student athletic fees by $50.
The announcement was made by UDC Board of Trustee’s Chair Michele
V. Hagans during the university’s twentieth annual commencement
ceremony on May 24, which featured approximately 950 graduates.
“Our financial crisis forced us to eliminate our intercollegiate
athletic program,” Hagans told the audience gathered on the campus’s
Dennard Plaza for commencement. “Our student leaders, however, said
they wanted to find a way to fund this program themselves….
Therefore, the Firebirds will rise again from the ashes next season.”
Meanwhile as the struggle to preserve and reconfigure UDC
continues, a group of Howard University professors and local members of
the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) have joined
the ranks of those advocating for shared governance at the District of
Columbia’s only public four-year university.
Under the new plan to restore athletics, which was developed by an
ad hoc committee of faculty and students, athletic fees will be raised
from their current level of $25 per semester to $75. If the campus is
able to reach a student enrollment of at least 6,000 per semester and
3,000 during the summer, the new fee schedule would generate in excess
of $1.1 million for the athletics program, said interim UDC President
Julius F. Nimmons Jr.
The university plans to fully reinstate its sports program,
offering competitive teams in men’s and women’s basketball, tennis, and
track and field; men’s soccer; and women’s volleyball. It also will
support cheerleaders and make the campus swimming facilities available
to all students.
