Northridge Jumping Back Into the Pool

NORTHRIDGE —  While Cal State Northridge administrators remain unsure if a proposed $586,000 in state bailout funds can restore their depleted athletic program, the men’s swimming team took matters into its own hands Thursday by raising enough in private donations to pay for another season.

Northridge cut four men’s teams--baseball, volleyball, swimming and soccer--last month to salvage its deficit-ridden athletic department and comply with gender-equity laws.

The soccer team was subsequently reinstated for one year after Coach Marwan Ass’ad convinced administrators that the program could support itself financially.

On Thursday, swim Coach Barry Schreifels won a similar reprieve for his squad by raising

$8,000 in cash and equipment in just two weeks.

“I give the guy a lot of credit,” said Ronald Kopita, vice president of student affairs. “Barry hustled for a lot of money over a short amount of time.”

Meanwhile, Kopita and other administrators were still pondering Wednesday’s news that a state Senate budget committee has approved $586,000 to save the eliminated teams.

The bailout was added to the state budget at the urging of Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley), a member of the Joint Budget Conference Committee. The budget must still pass both houses of the Legislature and be signed by Gov. Pete Wilson.

Wright, whose district includes the Northridge campus, began her crusade on behalf of CSUN shortly after the cuts were announced last month.

Northridge administrators insisted there was no choice but to eliminate the teams. Their athletic department was $800,000 in debt and struggling to meet gender-equity requirements.

In 1993, the California chapter of the National Organization for Women sued the California State University system. In a subsequent settlement, Cal State system officials agreed to raise the number of female athletes to about equal the amount of male athletes by the fall of 1988.

But women accounted for only 39% of Northridge athletes last school year and there was no money to add women’s teams.

Wright initially sought to raise the needed money by taking $600,000 from the Cal State system budget. CSUN president Blenda J. Wilson intervened.

“If the other CSU campuses were forced to contribute toward the $600,000, not only would enormous ill will be created, but a precedent would be set,” Wilson wrote in a June 23 letter.

When the state senator subsequently found money from a reserve fund that would not affect the system budget, Northridge administrators doubted that the $586,000 would suffice.

“I don’t know where [Wright] came up with that figure,” Kopita said Wednesday.

But Wright took the figure directly from a June 18 letter sent to her by another Northridge official.

Kopita acknowledged Thursday that $586,000 might be close to the amount needed.

However, he said, the costs rise with each passing day.

Athletes have transferred to other schools, which will require coaches to spend money to recruit. If coaches are lured away, the university will have to replace them.

“There are too many unknowns for me to say, ‘Boy, I’d really like that money,’ ” Kopita said. “There are too many unanswered questions.”

Schreifels answered some of those questions by calling upon alumni and the business community. He received $3,000 in equipment from Speedo and $5,000 from the Independent Pool and Spa Servicemen’s Assn. of the San Fernando Valley.

“[With] the changes since [Wednesday] in the state budget, I think the tide is starting to move in our favor,” he said.

Baseball Coach Mike Batesole, whose team has a much larger budget, was less optimistic.

“A one-year commitment isn’t going to get it done,” Batesole said. “I can’t ask these kids to come back and go through this again next June.”

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Wharton and Fernas reported from Northridge, Hill-Holtzman from Sacramento.