The Athletic policy committee, created to evaluate SF State's sports program and make recommendations about its future, met with student athletes Monday to hear their concerns.
Ten showed up.
Out of approximately 400 student athletes at SF State, the nine swimmers and one soccer player who attended said the poor turnout reflected the university's apathetic attitude toward sports.
The athletes told the committee they were concerned about the lack of financial and moral support from the rest of the campus.
We re not encouraged to participate in athletics here," said All-American swimmer Stephanie Koop. "We only get one unit for all the time we spend."
The meeting was the first the committee opened to the public, The committee has been holding meetings throughout the semester and will make recommendations to Provost Lawrence Lanni in June, according to committee members.
The student athletes cited several problems with the sports program: Head coaches work too hard because there are no full time assistants.
The sports facilities are inadequate and coaches must spend time maintaining them instead of spending that time coaching.
I Sports such as swimming, soccer and gymnastics do not receive adequate press coverage.
Professors in non-athletic classes are not supportive because they do not feel athletics are part of a college education.
There is no special academic counseling to help athletes balance school and sports, something that is common at other campuses.
The athletic program currently receives $165,000 a year with $120,000 of that amount from student fees.
The balance is from the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation.
The athletes proposed that a $1 fee hike be added to student registration fees to raise money for the sports program.
They said the funds could be used to improve facilities, which would encourage other students to participate in recreational or intramural sports.
After the meeting, committee chair and physical education instructor Richard Westkaemper commented on the low turnout.
"If I were to guess, (the athletes) thought this meeting wouldn't make a difference," he said.
Committee member and history professor Jules Tygiel added, "I'm personally very disappointed.
We got some good feedback here today. But, there should have been more."
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