Students at Cal State San Marcos have voted to pass the proposed Athletic Fee Referendum, CSUSM Athletics Director Tom Seitz announced at a press conference Wednesday.
The fee referendum will allow CSUSM to add men's and women's basketball, women's volleyball, and cheer/dance teams, as well as provide more scholarships to student-athletes from all sports. To fund this, students voted to increase the current $40 per semester Athletic Fee over the next three years. The fee will be $60 per semester in the 2010-2011 academic year, $80 in 2011-2012, and $100 in 2012-2013 and beyond.
Voting on the referendum was open to students from February 15th through the 28th. Of the 1,266 students who voted, nearly 70% of them voted in favor of the increase.
“To have 70% of the students vote in favor of increasing the athletic fee, especially in these economic times, is a clear indication of how important the athletic program is to the CSUSM campus,” said Seitz.
Adding the new sports will allow CSUSM to apply for membership in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a member of Division II. Once accepted, the program will also look to join the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA), a conference made up of eleven California State Universities and UCSD.
CSUSM Athletics currently sponsors ten sports, and is in its eleventh year of competition as an independent member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).
“While we have had much success in the NAIA over the past ten years,” commented Seitz, “the future of Cougar Athletics is as a member of the NCAA Division II and the CCAA.”
The men's and women's basketball, women's volleyball, and cheer/dance programs will be created this fall, and are expected to begin competition in the 2011-2012 academic year.
