By Dave Moross
While the men’s hockey team battled constant
adversity in its unsuccessful quest to play in the
NCAA West Regional it would co-host in March, and
the women’s soccer team spent most of the
winter wondering who their next head coach would
be, Colorado College’s two Division I sports
collectively won a huge victory early this year.
The results became official by early afternoon on
Jan. 12. “It was a proud, grateful, and exhilarating
moment for all of us who had worked so hard,”
said Julie Soriero, director of athletics, who had
teamed up with President Richard F. Celeste and
NCAA Faculty Representative Ralph Bertrand to form
the college’s successful group of lobbyists.
First, Proposal 65-1, the amended legislation co-sponsored
by CC and seven other Division III institutions
that grant financial aid to student-athletes in
one or two Division I programs, had passed by a
margin of nearly three votes to one. A few minutes
later, Proposal 65, the original reform package
that had been a subject of ongoing debate for months,
also passed as amended.
The outcome preserved Colorado College’s grand-fathered
right to award athletic scholarships in its two
Division I programs.
Voting on the two proposals followed passionate
debate on the floor, as eloquent speakers representing
both sides of the issue voiced their opinions.
“I was nervous up until the vote,” Bertrand
said. “A number of individuals spoke in opposition
to our proposal (65-1) and several of them were
very adamant and emotional... Their impassioned
speeches made me a little nervous.”
Had Proposal 65 ultimately passed without 65-1 attached,
the college would have faced a serious dilemma –
either stop offering athletic scholarships for men’s
hockey and women’s soccer starting in 2008,
or devise a plan to leave the ranks of Division
III in its other intercollegiate sports.
Celeste, who labored diligently with Soriero and
Bertrand behind the scenes in explaining and rallying
support for Proposal 65-1, never lost faith.
“We were confident,” he said, “that
once the Division III membership was able to study
Proposal 65 and the negative effect it would have
on our athletic programs, they would agree that
the proposed legislation would do nothing to bring
our academic mission and athletic participation
into greater balance.”
While Soriero had received enough positive feedback
during the course of the weekend to warrant cautious
optimism, she nevertheless feared that the vote
could be very close.
“Since we had to wait through two sets of
votes, the anticipation and anxiety kept building,”
she said. “I have coached for too many years
and know that it is not over until the final buzzer.”
Once the buzzer sounded, however, there was no arguing
with the overwhelming results. Common sense had
prevailed. Case closed.
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