Dartmouth to eliminate five Division 1 sports due to coronavirus pandemic
Dartmouth College is eliminating five varsity athletic programs, effective immediately, due to “a budget deficit made worse by the pandemic,” the school announced Thursday.
Men’s and women’s swimming and diving, men’s and women’s golf, and men’s lightweight rowing have been cut, affecting 110 student-athletes and 15 staff members, including eight coaches.
The school is also closing the Hanover Country Club, which it owns and operates at its golf course. According to a release, these changes will save Dartmouth more than $2 million.
Dartmouth President Philip J. Hanlon announced the cuts in an email to the Dartmouth community.
“I can assure you that these decisions were made with great care and the long-term interests of the learning experience provided by Dartmouth Athletics front and center,” Hanlon wrote.
Dartmouth will continue to sponsor 30 Division 1 teams in the Ivy League and Eastern College Athletic Conferences.
The cuts at Dartmouth come one day after Stanford announced it would drop 11 sports due to financial difficulties caused by the pandemic. Brown also restructured its athletic offerings in May, with 11 programs transitioning to club status, but the school said those changes were unrelated to coronavirus.
On July 1, UMass Dartmouth announced it would discontinue eight programs, but said the changes at the Division 3 school were not a result of the pandemic.
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