Sports gear update

Billy Jean Melchor &
Sahsa Mathelier
Staff Writers

The dumping of athletic gear and apparel, found last semester in a dumpster outside of
Moore Field House, angered not only SCSU students and faculty, but youth organizations as well.

Brian Kuigley, camp director at the YMCA Hamden/North Haven branch, said the disposed athletic gear and apparel was a “sinful waste.”
Kuigley said the YMCA is located right in Southern Connecticut State University’s backyard.

“A lot of equipment is a perfect fit for YMCA programs or summer camps,” he said. After SCSU students found the soccer cleats, camera tripods, duffel bags, footballs and even some items with price tags still affixed, Southern News searched for answers, including the policy for donating used sports apparel and equipment.

According to the NCAA bylaws, colleges are permitted “to provide athletic equipment to bona fide youth organizations,” such as the YMCA and the Boys and Girls Club of America. 

But officials said the policy at SCSU and the three other CSU universities prohibit such donations, even though many agree discarding the gear was a waste.

Athletic Director Patricia Nicol, who is aware of the NCAA bylaws, said she only follows state policy, which instructs SCSU and the other CSU campuses “to not use or distribute state information or the state equipment or materials for other than business purposes.”

Nicol said it would be nice to give to those who don’t have if she had the ability to do so, but she has rules to abide by.

“I don’t deny some of the items had tags on them,” said Nicol, regarding the brand new items. “But how old were they? Many times, vendors would give us items to sample. We may use them or not; they do not take it back.”

The Southern News submitted an FOI request a few months ago to Craig Patenaude, an attorney with the human resources department at SCSU and the university’s president, Cheryl Norton. The newspaper requested records of past instances in which clothing and gear were discarded. Patenaude consistently held off the distribution of the discarded athletic gear logs.

Pattenaude said he needed to review the information before making it public.

Students now plan to contact the Attorney General’s office and ask if SCSU is interpreting the policy correctly, whether it can, will, or ever be challenged.

Students and faculty are outraged that other universities make donations, but Southern does not.

In 2001, auditors were hired by the University of Iowa to examine its athletic department. They suggested the school adopt a written procedure that allows coaches to recommend what equipment to donate.

Coach William Wright of SCSU men’s track and field said he has always tried to get the university to donate shoes and clothing.

“But it was never prohibited, and it’s unfortunate,” said Wright.

Some students at Southern admitted they kept some of the apparel, but still managed to donate some of the goods to a local elementary school.

According to Nicol, the discarded gear was from 19 programs and 500 teams within the past 10 years.

“95 percent of it was unusable anymore for whatever reason, whether it be NCAA changes, conference changes; whether it be the conference sponsorship issues that just can’t use the stuff,” said Nicol. “We’re just told we can’t use the stuff. It was time for a transition and a fresh start.”

Kuigley and the YMCA camps, said the gear may be unusable for Southern, but he’d sure like to use it for his camp.

He said the YMCA camps rely heavily on donated equipments.

SCSU students, some coaches, and youth organizations want the school to start fresh when it comes to donating athletic apparel.

Janina Tauro, a junior and English major, said she finds the state policy to be heartless.

“Even though Southern is doing their job by following the policy, it still doesn’t make this policy right,”

Tauro said. “Something should be done. There are thousands of people in the streets of New Haven who are desperately in need of clothes; regardless of a state policy prohibiting this distribution, to me there is no logical reason.”