More than 50 sport management majors and faculty rallied at the Cleveland Hall parking lot Monday to protest WSU’s proposed budget, released May 1.

Sport management was one of only a handful of programs – along with the Department of Theatre & Dance, the Department of Community and Rural Sociology and the German major – proposed to be cut entirely in the next budget.

Sport management instructor Tammy Crawford, whose job would be eliminated under the proposal, addressed the crowd from the curbside. She said she was outraged at the rationale provided by College of Education Dean Judy Mitchell for cutting the program – that it didn’t fit the mission of the College of Education.

“We have lots of people touching students’ lives and their educational experiences,” she said. “Judy Mitchell made an ill-informed and ignorant decision in my opinion.” Assistant professor John Wong was the next speaker to address the crowd. He said the program is solid and he can’t rationalize the cut as a cost-saving measure because it costs the university $293,000 per year while bringing in $100,000 in tuition.

“It makes no economic sense,” he said.

The crowd, chanting and carrying signs with “Save Sports Management” on them, then marched from the parking lot to the Glenn Terrell Mall. The protesters marched into the CUB Auditorium for the noon budget forum with President Elson S. Floyd and Provost Warwick Bayly.

In an e-mail to sport management students and alumni sent May 1, Mitchell said the decision was difficult but necessary because the college was forced to cut its budget by 14 percent, or about $1 million overall.

“As part of the guiding principles for making these budget reductions, unit leaders were asked to consider the alignment of programs with their overall mission,” she wrote in the e-mail. “While the sport management program is of the highest quality, and absolutely among the best programs of its kind, it is not as closely aligned with the overall mission of the College of Education as some other programs.” The university will continue to offer classes so students already certified in the major can finish their degrees.

Sophomore sport management major Bryan Grow applied to certify in the program May 1. That same day, he was was told by a professor in one of his sport management classes that he would not have a chance to finish the program.

“I was shocked,” Grow said. “I thought she was joking when she told us.” Crawford said the program received almost no warning that it was a candidate for removal in the budget. She said about 30 to 40 students certify in the major a year. About 250 students are in the program, which includes undergraduate and graduate students.

Freshman sport management major Arie Henry said he came to WSU from Anchorage, Alaska specifically for the sport management major.

“This is the only place that really offered it on the West Coast that had the substantial program I was looking for,” he said.

Julie Titone, director of communication in the College of Education, is meeting with sports management majors and faculty this morning to discuss the situation.