Here is the email from the school to students:
To All Students, Faculty, and Staff of PLNU:
The decisions contained in the press release, attached above, are very difficult for us to make and the impact upon our student-players, their parents, and our coaches is deeply regrettable. The action is to eliminate men’s cross country, men’s track and field, men’s golf, and women’s softball while adding women’s golf. This action is a direct result of the loss of the Sunset Cliffs Field and the inability to locate a suitable, permanent home for women’s softball. Once it became apparent that we could not continue PLNU’s softball program, we worked closely with the Office of Civil Rights in order to remain in full compliance with Title IX Athletics. The necessity to achieve the required Title IX balancing of our gender participation in athletics is simply not possible without changes in our current athletic offerings. Although years of study and searching for solutions won’t lessen the pain, anger, and disappointment that will result for those directly involved, we believe we have pursued every possible solution to achieve what is likely to be the “least bad of all the bad solutions available to us.”
Further information may be found at the PLNU homepage and the Athletics homepage.
Please pray for and actively support the athletes and coaches who are impacted by this difficult decision.
Sincerely,
Caye Barton Smith, Psy.D.
Vice President for Student Development
Ethan Hamilton, MA
Athletic Director