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UPEI SUN, MARCH l3, 1980, PAGE 3 '- - -_--
CONCEN’TR TING ELSEWHERE ‘
UPEI Withdraws From AUAA Football
From the Guardian
University of _Prince Edward Island has decided to opt out of the Atlantic University Football Con- ference “for the time being" it was announced Wednesday by university president Dr. Peter Mein- cke. .
The decision was the result
of a' year-long study by the ,
UPEI athletic board whose report was made public last month. . > The - report had recom- mended football, at the inter- collegiate leVel be retained for a minimum of two years and a formal review be con- ducted during that time.
“After much consultation and careful consideration of the many excellent letters and briefs from all over the Island, 1 have decided to sus- pend our intercollegiate foot- ball program for the time be ing so that we can concen- trate our limited resources in other programs,” said Dr.
Meincke in making the an- i
nouncement.
“After we. have built up strong capabilities in these areas, we will explore the possibility of starting foot— ball again, but we simply cannot build up everything atonce."
The UPEI president ad
mitted the decision did not . come easily. .
“This has been a very dif-
ficult decision and one than
has not been taken lightly but I believe that it is essen- tial for the best possible development of the athletic gprograms at UPEI." said Dr.Meincke.
UPEI becomes the second
' university to withdraw from .
the AUAA conference. Dalhousie withdrew from the sportin1977.
. The decision on the foot~
ball‘ program was' made.
‘ quickly to coincide with the ‘ AUAA scheduling taking ! place in Halifax. » =, TAKING LOOK
As for the other recom- .
‘ mendations mentioned in the report, the president said a 'closer look will be taken but
“sincefootball was our main ‘
concern now, we dealt with r thatquickly.”
Dr. Meincke, inan inter- view Wednesday, said a careful look will be taken at staffing. The report recom- ‘mended‘ the athletic depart- ment staff 'be increased to ‘six full-time and five part- ‘ time individuals. ‘
“It’s pretty clear that basketball and hockey will
M Ac_\oNA_Ln A SIGNED PRO ‘
be our major sports and we will be doing whatever we can to he1p these areas out. As for the other areas, we will plan more carefully,” added Dr. Meincke.
LARGE CUT
The football program had been scheduled to receive $20,600 of the $219,171 total budget for'this coming year but the president said "it is hard to say" if that total would be applied to other sports. - .
“The money going into
- travel and equipment will
not be taken away 1(from the athletic programs) but reap- plied to other areas," he noted. .
“Don’t expect UPEI to ex- pand into a flurry of activi- ty...it will be carefully staged,” he noted.
The president expects that it will be another month before the entire athletic board report is settled although most recommenda- tions "are apparently clear cut. , The report, headed by Prof. J.J. Revel] of the department of business ad- ministration, taken at the president’s re-
»quest and at the time of its
release, Dr. Meincke invited comments from all
By John Cairns 1 in the same week that
» UPEI terminated its Football. , program ironic news. I arrived from Montreal. Hubert “Socky” Macdonald, one of the uniVersity's mest glittering Football stars, has signed a two year contract with Montreal vAlouettes of the Canadian I Football League. I ‘ ,For Four years Macdonald ' starred with the Panthers
was under:
Islanders.
“On behalf of the universi- ty, I’d like to thank all the members of the athletic
doing well. Four
consecutive seasons he received all-conference honors, and in 1979 he was athlete-of-the-year for the province of Prince Edward Island. Macdonald is one of two Former Panthers about to attend CFL training camp. The other is Vernon Pahl, a lineman from Montreal who was drafted several weeks ago by the Winnipeg
board who have given so much of their time for the past year considering these important issues. I'd also
President Meincke
like to thank the many peo— ple who took the time to write such thOughtful and helpful letters,” he added.
interesting reunion (or
other.
should we say confrontation), the next time Montreal and Winnipeg play each
Blue Bombers. Possibly
‘_as a defensive back. , the two-will: havevan
.Hailing from Charlottetown, , _ ,he was always popular with as he appeared as a Panther local fans as a home boy
\ON MARCH I ~ ‘ VOTE ; ' ‘ PHHP _
_ FORTHEBETTER
Hube rt “Socky” Macdona lid
r,
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