Stanford University recently announced it would discontinue 11 of its 36 varsity sports at the end of the 2020-21 academic year, thus creating a huge hole in the university's athletic programs and leaving dozens of student-athletes, coaches and supporters adrift. The reason for this decision, according to an open letter to the Stanford community from Stanford's president, provost and athletic director, is financial, stretching back several years before the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated matters.
Other schools, such as Brown University and Dartmouth College, are also eliminating a number of varsity teams. With such well-off schools as these announcing cuts in athletics, others can't be far behind. This is a permanent solution to a temporary problem—and one which could be addressed more effectively in other ways, with fewer deleterious outcomes.
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