Yale Cuts $290,000 from Athletic Budget

NEW HAVEN, Conn.-- As Yale University President A. Bartlett Giamatti tried to mollify athletes and coaches by saying his proposals for Ivy-wide restrictions on athletic recruiting had been misinterpreted, Yale's budget committee cut $290,000 from next year's athletic budget.

Athletic Director Frank Ryan said the budget cut would hurt Yale's varsity sports program, although he added that he had not decided whether to eliminate entire sports.

In the past he has said that cuts of that size would force him to eliminate five or six varsity sports.

Ryan said the $3 million athletic budget already has been trimmed of all fat because of $270,000 in budget cuts over the past two years. He said he would try to increase athletic department revenue, which is now about $800,000 and is raised largely from admission to football games and other athletic contests, as well as physical education fees.

'What I Meant'

Meanwhile, Giamatti met with student athletes the next day to clarify his proposals for limiting Ivy League recruiting and post-season competition.

Giamatti, insisting his comments had been misunderstood, told athletes and coaches he never would prohibit either recruiting or post-season competition.

"I said the presidents (of the Ivy League) must discuss restricting recruiting and that the presidents must cease to think of post-season competition as a natural and necessary consequence of victory," Giamatti said in a statment released after the meeting with the coaches

"That doesn't say ban," the statement continued. "Had I wished to say ban with regard to either recruiting or post-season competition, I would have done so. I did not say that," the statement said.

Yale admitted fewer athletic recruits this year than last, and coaches said they were worried that some athletes might be scared away from Yale by Giamatti's speech.

Meanwhile, at the University of Penn-sylvania, the undergraduate committee on athletics released a report urging that more funds be spent on athletics and that the university continue to admit athletes who would not otherwise be admitted on academic grounds.

The report said the term "special admits" should no longer be applied to these athletes because "the term is both derogatory and generally misunderstood."