More than a year after the University of Minnesota cut three men’s sports programs as a result of financial insecurity stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, student athletes, former coaches, administrators and alumni are aiming to move forward and take action to help those most impacted by the decision.

These groups are finding alternative ways to keep the sports on campus and preserve the legacy of the programs. Numerous new clubs have started over the past year, allowing athletes to participate in competitions not affiliated with the University. Others are collaborating to raise awareness among state legislators and donors on the impact of the decision.

The decision to cut the men’s gymnastics, tennis and indoor track and field programs, approved by the Board of Regents in October 2020, was contested among students and administrators alike. Many student athletes and administrators opposed, with some protesting the decision due to the relatively low amount of money cutting the programs would save.

The elimination of these three programs annually saved $1.6 million, as the University as a whole faced a budget deficit of $172 million. The University cited the need to comply with Title IX policy as another reason for eliminating the programs.

At the September 2021 Board of Regents meeting, University of Minnesota athletics director Mark Coyle provided an update on the financial status of the athletics department and reflected on the cutting of the programs last year.

“I hope the public … and members of the board would understand we went through an extensive process and we exhausted all that we could exhaust in terms of what we needed to do, and how we needed to do it,” Coyle said.

When the sports were canceled last fall, the athletics department faced a projected financial deficit of $65 to $75 million. As a result of the revenue produced from airing football on television last year, this deficit was revised to $45 million.

As of June 2021, the athletics department still faced a $21.5 million budget deficit resulting from losses accrued due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Coyle and the University’s athletics department declined requests from the Minnesota Daily to comment further on last year’s decision.

Loss of program opens new doors for gymnastics student athletes

Since the elimination of the programs, many student athletes at the University are finding other ways to stay engaged in their sports. One gymnast, Shane Wiskus, even went on to compete in the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games following the program cut.

Second-year gymnast Evan Ng, filed a lawsuit against the athletics department in response to the elimination of the program. Ng is suing the University for sex discrimination based on the fact that only men’s programs were cut last year.

“[The purpose of the lawsuit] is mostly just to try and reinstate the sport. Not even just for myself, but for kids in the future that are training to compete at the NCAA level as well,” Ng said.

Ng said he filed the lawsuit because he had “the most to lose eligibility-wise.” As a first-year student, he would have been able to compete with the team for multiple seasons if the program was not cut.

Kellen Ryan, a first-year University student, considered attending the University for gymnastics prior to the elimination of the program.

“[The program being cut] affected pretty much all of my life,” he said.

When the University cut their men’s gymnastics program, Ryan decided to join the University’s club program through the Gymnastics Association of College Teams (GymACT) this year. GymACT allows athletes to participate in collegiate competitions even if they are not sponsored by a major University’s athletics program.

As a result, Ryan said he is now able to get the typical freshman experience, as he lives in a dorm and is meeting students he may not have been able to if he was part of the gymnastics team.

“I think in terms of where we’re at after getting cut last year, I think we’re in a great place honestly. The only way it could be better is if they brought back the program,” Ryan said.

Since the University now only has a competitive club gymnastics program, first-year student Ben Hays had the opportunity to continue competing as a “lower-level athlete.”

Hays planned to try out for the University’s official team prior to its elimination. Even if he did not make the team he still planned to attend the University, he said.

“[Changing to a club team] has definitely been beneficial for me,” Hays said. “But I think it also cut off a lot of opportunities for some of the gymnasts who are better than me who could have had an opportunity to be on athletic scholarship, so I think it’s kind of a win-lose situation.”

Hays said the transition from an official University team to an independent club team has been a change of pace. In addition to undertaking fundraising efforts to support the team, they now have to commit time to setting up meets and equipment.

Former coach speaks out

In addition to student athletes working to return to a sense of normalcy since the programs were eliminated, former coaches are aiming to move forward as well.

Former gymnastics coach Mike Burns said he is trying to “keep a footprint of gymnastics” on campus despite the elimination of the program.

“We’re trying to evolve and maintain a program here at the University and we’ve done a lot since this whole thing went down last year,” he said.

The University’s gymnastics team hosted the NCAA championship and finished fifth in the nation at the conclusion of last season, in addition to being one the highest ranked teams in the University’s athletic department. Burns said he hopes the club team will continue to compete with this level of success in the future.

Although the University is continuing to honor all athletic scholarships awarded to athletes whose sports were cut last fall, Burns said the club team is now trying to get a hold of the other funding designated to the men’s gymnastics program last year.

This funding would be used to pay for travel costs, new grips, mats, uniforms and other necessities to help the program stay afloat, Burns said.
“It’s not just about trying to reinstate our sports but it’s also about how do we come up with new models for how college athletics is going to have to exist because things are changing,” Burns said.

Getting legislators involved

Burns said he does not feel the concerns of student athletes and coaches are being considered by the University’s board, President Joan Gabel and Athletics Director Mark Coyle. As a result, Burns has been in contact with Minnesota state legislators, who are responsible for designating funding to the University each year.

“Right now it’s about creating new allies,” he said.

University track alumni Bill Smith is working with fellow alumni to form the Minnesota Athletics Alliance. The organization is also working to advocate to state legislators on behalf of student athletes and to support the sports programs financially.

The alliance holds weekly meetings to discuss legal action to investigate and engage legislatively, Smith said.

“Our mission is to advocate for athletes at the University of Minnesota when these sorts of things happen,” he said. “We’re just not going to throw in the towel and go away.”

Smith said the group is currently working to implement a hearing process that will educate legislators on how the regents make decisions at the University. One goal of the alliance is to tell the story from the perspective of the impacted student athletes.

“We are working now to build support across the House and the Senate so when the funding comes up, we can advocate for a different funding model at the University of Minnesota for non-revenue sports,” Smith said. “My hope is that we can get current athletes engaged.”

Board of Regents weighs in

In 2020, Regent Darrin Rosha was one board member who supported student athletes while their programs were being eliminated. Rosha said he voted against the decision to cut the sports last year due to the lack of established principles on why the University can maintain certain sports programs, while eliminating others.

Rosha said the eliminated sports received significant financial donations that could have continued to support the programs amid the athletics department’s budget issues. Rosha said other sports could have been eliminated to save more money in the athletics department’s budget rather than the tennis, gymnastics and track and field programs.

“The most significant basis for me was the cost savings were so minimal, in fact maybe nonexistent,” Rosha said.

Rosha also said he believes Title IX was not a valid reason for cutting the sports programs.

Several other athletics supporters indicated they did not believe Title IX was a valid reason to eliminate the sports programs as well.

Former Regent Michael Hsu, who also voted against the decision, echoed these thoughts and concerns. Hsu said he was concerned the termination of the three sports programs last fall may lead to more programs being cut in the future.

“It was a bad decision then and it’s clearly a bad decision now,” Hsu said.

Throughout the past year, the University has said they are continuing to consider the best interest of students as they make decisions.

“We are focusing on the future as we move forward with our department and continue to make sure we provide a great experience for our student athletes, our coaches, our staff and our parents who support our program,” Coyle said.

Although the athletics department is not currently in a financial position to add sports, coaches, students and alumni said they will continue to take action into their own hands to preserve the legacy of the eliminated sports.

“I’m a little feisty, a little crusty around the edges and just kind of keep digging my heels in and keep fighting for this thing, because I think it’s the right thing to do,” Burns said.

As part of the University of Minnesota’s ongoing “Immigrants in COVID America” project, researchers recently released a new research spotlight diving into the obstacles immigrants and people of color face in gaining access to the COVID-19 vaccine throughout the pandemic.

A University graduate student authored the report, titled “Identifying Obstacles to COVID-19 Vaccine Accessibility for Immigrant and POC Populations,” in collaboration with researchers from Gustavus Adolphus College. The project highlights the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on immigrants and people of color across the country by analyzing data and presenting it in an accessible format.

“The idea was always to create things, and not just collect things, so part of the project involved stories from the pandemic where we’re providing first hand accounts from immigrants and refugees impacted by the pandemic [in addition to] these research spotlights,” said project director Erika Lee.

The project includes data, news reports and various perspectives to report on the economic, social and health repercussions of COVID-19, according to the project’s website. The new research spotlight focuses on the language, technology and residential barriers that limit vaccine accessibility for immigrant populations and people of color.

“We really wanted to just highlight the important things that we had come across in our research throughout the entire project,” research spotlight author Bella Rolland said. “Something that really stood out to us in terms of health equity was access to vaccines and it was super relevant.”

The research discusses the potential reasons why people may not be getting the vaccine, including the unequal access to healthcare that impacts immigrants and people of color.

“From a social justice and equity perspective, we wanted to explore why are certain communities hesitant to get the vaccine, but also is there another side to that story, is it not just about hesitancy, but is it also about access,” Lee said.

When considering access to COVID-19 vaccines, Rolland said people of color and immigrants may not live in areas close to sites where vaccines are administered.

“Transportation is an issue, they don’t have the ability to take time off of work to get there, or they have to take a bus for two hours to get to somewhere where there is a vaccine,” Rolland said.

For people who do not speak English, it can be difficult to understand and interpret the information surrounding COVID-19 vaccines, Rolland said.

Rolland said having vaccine information presented mostly in English allows misinformation to spread among those who do not speak the language. This has impacted COVID-19 vaccination rates among immigrants and people of color, as some may not “have access to healthcare or have a doctor that they trust that can talk to them about COVID-19,” Rolland said.

Lack of access to the internet may also make it difficult for people to get vaccinated, as many sites ask people to make vaccine appointments online. In addition, signing up online may make people feel unsafe or worry about sharing personal and private information due to lack of trust in the government, said Maddalena Marinari, project co-director and associate professor at Gustavus Adolphus College.

“The fact that [vaccine appointments are] electronic also generates, particularly among immigrants and refugees, a fear of the government collecting this information,” Marinari said. “Some people are undocumented in writing and so [it’s the fear of] will this come back to haunt me, essentially, even though authorities say ‘no.’”

Rolland said there is a bigger story behind why some people remain unvaccinated. While some may be hesitant to receive the vaccine due to personal beliefs, access to healthcare and vaccines also is an important factor.

“I think it’s important for people to know that vaccines are a tool to help us overcome the COVID-19 pandemic, but there is still so much more that needs to be done, besides just people getting vaccinated, and a big part of that is also addressing the systemic inequalities,” Rolland said.

Since there are various reasons that people are unable to get the vaccine, it is a difficult topic to address and does not have a “one size fits all solution,” Marinari said.

Rolland said she is optimistic that vaccine accessibility will improve in the future.

“I hope more people will acknowledge that there are steps that we can take to support the health of and the health accessibility of these populations, including increasing public health guidance and training and education,” Rolland said. “More people should just be aware of that and want to invest in those types of solutions.”

Student success coaches at the University of Minnesota are aiming to help first-year and low-income students with goal setting, career planning and financial literacy through a new program started this semester.

The Success Coaching program, managed by the President’s Emerging Scholars Program and the Office of Undergraduate Education, targets first-year and first-generation students, who may also be from low-income families. These University students often have multiple commitments outside of school that may make it difficult to balance their responsibilities, or may require additional support in navigating their experiences in college during their freshman year, according to Will O’Berry, assistant director of the President’s Emerging Scholars Program.

The program launched over the summer, with coaches beginning their roles throughout the fall semester. Around 100 students are currently taking part in the program, which is open to students who are Pell Grant eligible. The Pell Grant is a federal grant for students who display an outstanding financial need and have not yet earned a degree.

“Students come into college having different goals and wanting different things out of college, wanting different opportunities out of college so it’s really individualized,” said student success coach Mai Lee.

A goal of the program is to increase four-year graduation rates, specifically among Pell students.

“We know that our Pell graduation rates are below our regular graduation rates, not by a lot, but by enough that it’s concerning,” said Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education, Robert McMaster. “So we thought by adding some coaches that specifically would be targeted to help Pell income students we could help their adjustment to the University.”

The program was also developed due to students expressing a need for targeted advising and guidance.

“We saw a very high demand for these coaches,” McMaster said. “There’s a lot of demand from low-income students to get some additional support so it certainly is a program we anticipate might expand a bit.”

Lee said her and fellow success coach Lissa Martinez meet frequently to discuss the effectiveness of different coaching strategies. Students who are part of the program have the opportunity to meet with coaches consistently throughout the semester.

“I think one of the most important pieces with being in college [and] succeeding in college is being able to build relationships, and then also being able to navigate campus. I feel like you’re getting both of those things,” Lee said.

The success coaches can provide additional guidance on finances, academics and career advice that may expand on other advising services offered at the University. In addition, success coaches may also take on the role of mentor for these students.

Prior to working as a success coach, Lee said she was previously an academic advisor at the University. Having a background in higher education helped her develop plans for academic topics, she said. As a success coach, Lee now spends more time with students exploring other topics such as financial literacy and goal setting.

“We were able to find two coaches with really excellent education backgrounds and experience in terms of working with historically minority students,” O’Berry said.

In addition to filling out a survey at the start and end of the semester, students are asked to fill out a satisfaction survey after each meeting. Feedback shows that all students “feel motivated to achieve their goals after their coaching sessions” and are “satisfied with the overall coaching experience,” O’Berry said.

The University is planning to expand this coaching to reach other low-income and first generation students, and more coaches will also be added to the program in the future, O’Berry said.

“We haven’t even gotten through a full semester yet,” O’Berry said. “So we’re wanting to gather data as we go along to shift and change things as we need to and keep the things that are working.”