Ewu Sports Play Part In Nonathletic Progress

Now that Eastern Washington University is seeing the dividends of higher-level athletic competition, it’s no time to reverse course, according to a veteran EWU faculty member.

“I think the trustees were correct in voting to continue Eastern’s athletic program at the Division I-AA level,” said Jay W. Rea, a librarian at the school in Cheney. “Eastern’s budget problems will not be solved by either of the other options - Division II or no athletics at all.”

Last week, EWU’s board of trustees rejected the idea of dropping to the less exalted Division II to save money.

“Dropping to Division II does not generate enough dollars to compensate for the probable loss in revenue and athletes,” said Rea, who has been at Eastern since 1970. “Dropping all sports programs except club sports would cost Eastern additional student enrollments,” he said.

“The athletic program is at a point where it can achieve the original goals set for it,” said Rea. “The program provides the Washington state student-athlete an opportunity to compete at a very high level of competition, just short of the Pac-10.”

Unlike most Pac-10 teams and many in the Big Sky Conference, he boasted, most of Eastern’s student-athletes are Washingtonians.

“What is required now is stability,” he said. “Let the coaches, staff and student-athletes compete and do their best. The solution to Eastern’s enrollment problems will be found elsewhere than at the expense of a quality athletic program.”

Full court press

A high-visibility criminal trial will get under way soon in the one Spokane County courtroom that permits the fewest number of people to watch it.

Moving the murder trial of Tom DiBartolo, a former sheriff’s deputy accused of killing his wife, to a larger courtroom was ruled out because it would disrupt other judges’ schedules.

As it is, after media and family members are seated, few if any of the 28 seats in Judge Neal Rielly’s court will be available to the general public.

In a democratic system that demands justice be dispensed openly, criminal trials are open to the public for a reason.

Does the potential restriction in the DiBartolo case pose a serious restriction to public accountability or is it merely a frustration to voyeurs with too much time to kill?

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