Yale Wrestlers File Suit Seeking Varsity Status

Yale University's wrestling team filed suit against the school's athletic department last week in Connecticut State Superior Court, requesting that the university restore the team's varsity status.

The suit, filed on November 14, claims that the athletic department reneged on an implied promise to its varsity athletes by cutting the program, according to The Yale Herald.

The litigation goes before a jury on December 9. University officials could not be reached for comment yesterday. Team members contacted by the Crimson refused to comment yesterday on the advice of their legal counsel.

According to The Herald, wrestling recruits are now questioning whether they picked the right school.

"I think it absolutely stinks," wrestler Lee Friedman, a first-year student, told the campus weekly earlier this fall. "Yale is a great school, but I came to school intending to wrestle. I unquestionably would have applied differently had they announced the cuts earlier."

The team is claiming the athletic department misled incoming wrestlers by actively recruiting them after the decision to cut the team had been made. Three of Yale's first-year recruits were accepted under the school's early action program, and were unable to apply to other schools before they learned of the cuts.

Economic Questions

Yale's athletic department said that the budget reductions, which also eliminated the varsity water polo and junior varsity ice hockey teams, were a result of the economic recession.

But team members told the Herald that they are skeptical of the university's reasons because the team's alumni association raised the necessary $24,000 for this year's wrestling program.

"Clearly it's not an economic decision," Jim Bennett, the president of Yale's alumni association, told The Yale Daily News. "It wouldn't cost them a penny to keep wrestling."