A group of about 60 Whittier College athletes rallied outside the school on Thursday, Nov. 17, in protest of the cancellation of four sports programs, including football.
The school announced on Tuesday that it was ending its NCAA Division III football program, men’s and women’s golf teams and men’s lacrosse. It had football for 115 years.
But students on Thursday, at the southeast corner of Philadelphia Street and Painter Avenue, for about an hour and a half held up signs, chanting and asking the school to reverse itself.
“I was really frustrated with the way the administration was treating the athletes,” said Analise Kuskeika, a sophomore volleyball player, who organized the protest.
“It was really disrespectful,” Kusleika said. “We wanted to show them how we felt. They emailed us and gave really short notice. It’s hard to get recruited by other schools because they don’t have the resources they need.”
Kusleika said they are asking the administration to sit down with athletes and “have a conversation.”
“We want change,” Kusleika said. “We want all programs reinstated.”
In an emailed statement, college spokeswoman Ana Lilia Barraza said administrators have met with students, and defended the decision, saying it was made unanimously by the Whittier College administration and Board of Trustees.
“While we believe we made the right decision, we understand that for many at Whittier College this was difficult news to hear,” Baraza wrote. “We are working closely with the student-athletes from the football, golf, and men’s lacrosse teams to ensure that they continue to find success at Whittier College.”
Baraza said the college will direct funding to support other sports and strengthen areas in “which Whittier excels,” such as academic programs and expanded support student health and wellness.
Kusleika said the protest was more than about football.
“It’s about stability in athletics and it’s about support,” she said.
With Whittier folding its program, it leaves only six colleges in California that compete in Division III. There are four local schools — Pomona-Pitzer, Claremont-Mudd, the University of La Verne and the University of Redlands— playing football in Division III.
Whittier played its final game of the season Saturday, Nov. 12, against Redlands and lost 58-14, finishing its season 0-8.
Whittier, which began playing football in 1907, is famous for having former President Richard Nixon play there as a tackle for the 1932 squad, and also for having NFL Hall of Fame coach George Allen lead the Poets from 1951-56. Allen left Whittier to become a Rams assistant coach in 1957, and after bouncing around as an NFL assistant, he was named the Rams’ head coach in 1963.
Whittier’s best stretch of football came from 1957-64 when it won eight straight conference titles with Allen and two other head coaches, Don Coryell (1957-59) and John Godfrey (1960-79).
Over the last decade, it has struggled to field winning teams. It has gone winless in five of its last seven seasons.
