Union College President Roger Hull
spoke out on Monday, Jan. 12, against an NCAA measure that allows eight
Division III colleges and universities to continue to offer athletic
scholarships in a Division I sport.
Ultimately, the NCAA members voted
to permit such scholarships, at their convention in Nashville,
Tenn.
Hull,
who said he “wrestled with the decision until the last possible moment,”
voted against the measure.
“I have great respect
for those presidents and their institutions, but ultimately I had to do what I
thought was right,” he said. “For me, the vote came down to a
question of conscience over collegiality.
“I am philosophically opposed
to treating a group of men or women differently from any other athlete or
non-athlete on a campus like ours,” he said.
Hull
said he had earlier told one of the presidents of the eight institutions that
he would abstain and not speak against the proposal unless someone said the
amendment was needed in order to be competitive. At a luncheon of presidents at
the conference yesterday, two presidents referred to the need for scholarships
to be competitive.
“We may not win as many games
as some of the institutions in our conference, but we are competitive every
time we get on the ice,” Hull
said. “I am proud of the way that our hockey players represent this
institution and I am proud of the fact that some of them have been among our
best students.
“I have always said to the
people with whom I work that no matter what stance we take in a job like this,
we will be criticized and that we should therefore always do what we believe
in.
“For me, doing what I believe
in means saying that athletic scholarships do not belong on a campus like
ours.”
Union does
not offer any athletic scholarships, despite playing in Division I leagues in
men's and women's ice hockey. The College's other 23 sports are at the Division
III level. Union is the only Division III institution playing hockey at
Division I without athletic scholarships.