Saturday, July 25, 2020
Dear Members of the Campus Community,
This week, significant decisions were made by the Middle Athletic Conference (MAC)
and the United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) regarding competition during the
2020 fall semester. Yesterday, the MAC announced that conference athletic competition
for the 2020 fall season has been canceled and the UCHC released a decision to postpone
conference athletic competition through December 31. The decision to cancel and postpone
athletic competition is, undoubtedly, disappointing; however, this was the only choice
that would protect the health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches and athletics
staff.
I am writing to you today to share more about these changes to the fall and early-winter
season and how they affect the more than 500 student-athletes who compete for Wilkes.
Our student-athletes gain lifelong benefits from participating in intercollegiate
athletics team at Wilkes – discipline, teamwork, confidence, accountability and so
much more. We are committed to creating an experience that comes as close as we can
to preserving our teams’ seasons throughout the academic year. Together with the MAC,
we will explore alternatives that will provide future competitive experiences for
fall sport student-athletes in the spring semester as circumstances allow. We will
find new ways for teams to maintain relationships, continue training and enhance skills
until such a time that we can safely return to normal competition.
Student-athletes will be encouraged to work in support of their individual and team
goals, and coaches will work within the conference and University guidelines to create
circumstances that allow our student-athletes to eventually return to full team practices.
Of course, given the unpredictability of the pandemic, the MAC, UCHC and Wilkes will
need to continually revise and reassess these opportunities.
I would like to take a moment to recognize the efforts of our athletics department.
They worked all summer to create plans and protocols that we hoped would keep our
sports seasons intact and our student-athletes safe. Although these plans will not
be utilized, I commend our athletics administrators and coaches for their work, which
was rooted in the highest level of care for our student-athletes and our campus.
Among the lessons we all have learned about the pandemic is this – no matter what
we decide, the coronavirus may force us to change our plans. We appreciate everyone’s
flexibility and understanding as we continue to respond to the global health environment.