Dear members of the Delaware Equine Council,

We are the four captains of Delaware State University and we are writing to gain your support. 

On Wednesday, January 13, 2010 the Women’s Equestrian Team was cut from the Delaware State University Athletics program. The coaching staff was aware that budget cuts were inevitable. We were unaware of the schools final decision for a total elimination of the team. The news of this was shocking and surreal to the coaches and all 20 riders. Derek Carter, the Athletic Director, was the bearer of bad news. He alerted Coach Ridgely prior to the news being put into the media. It was all very rushed. As a team it was very hard to absorb. Mr. Carter did announce that if we were on scholarship we would grant our scholarship for the following school year.

Since this news the team has banded together to make their voices be heard. Mr. Poliquin, a lawyer, has been retained to represent the Equestrian team on their plight to preserve their sport at Delaware State University.

The day after we were informed of the Board of Trustees decision to cut equestrian, the team gathered outside of the administration building in a peaceful protest.  There were multiple types of media that we were interviewing the team and spreading our story publicly. WBOC 16, the Delaware News Journal, Delaware State News and DSU press were all present.  After the protest the team and supporters went to the fourth floor of the administration building and waited for the Board of Trustee meeting to start.  We were not given much time to present our case due to a two minute time restriction. This did not deter the team.

The next day the University held a Town Hall style meeting that was open to the public. This meeting was held by the President and other board members. At this meeting we presented the facts; the president was able to answer some of our questions but not all. After we stated our case many others began to question the rational of taking this team away. At that meeting we gained many supporters. When the meeting was completed two of our captains spoke to the president. He requested that the team meet with him again. That meeting is set for this Friday at 1:00 PM in the Administration Building.

The Equestrian team has a solid GPA of 3.0 and has accumulated the most community service hours of any team on campus. We have volunteered at many places such as The Boys and Girls Club, W.B. Simpson Elementary, Breakfast with Santa at Fairview Elementary and many others. Since the inception of this team four years ago we have grown from 4 to 20 riders. The incoming fall 2010 class was supposed to be packed with 15 exceptional riders, one of them being a Canadian World Champion that has already signed a National Letter of Intent to attend DSU. There were also five Delaware student athletes that were planning on attending DSU because of the Equestrian program.

We need vocal and financial support in order to encourage the Board of Trustees to reverse their decision. As a team we understand that our budget will be cut and we are willing to fundraise to supplement that. Our coach, Jennifer Ridgely, is personally willing to take a pay cut of $5k and the barn owner, Mr. Melnick has agreed to reduce the facilities cost by $13,500 per year. We are doing our part to show our sustainability we just need help to convince the university to negotiate with us.

Please e-mail the president and athletic director to voice your concerns.

Dr. Harry Williams, President of the University hwilliams@desu.edu

Derek Carter, athletic director dcarter@desu.edu. 

Thank you for your support,

              Kamerra Brown - Culpepper, VA

              Kayleigh Karnbach - Dover, DE

              Morgan Scuse - Smyrna, DE

              Christina Smith - Smyrna, DE

Mascot

"LIBERTY"!

See Ya Soon!

Call me! for Availablity

Stan 302-684-3966 or

Peggy 302-629-5233

 

 

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

2010 Equine Directory will be available by March

----------

UP AND COMING TRAILS SUMMIT, FEBRUARY 25TH ATLANTIC SANDS HOTEL, REHOBOTH BEACH DELAWARE FOR DETAILS GO TO http://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=803918

--------------------------------

SATURDAY, MARCH 20TH 6PM ANNUAL DINNER/DANCE/AUCTION

SCHOLARSHIP FUNDRAISER WILL BE IN DOVER @ AGR MUSEUM, TICKETS AVAILABLE  FEB 1ST-CALL STAN 302-684-3966 OR PAM 240-994-2220

-------------------

MARCH  27TH 10A-6P @ STATE FAIRGROUNDS, HARRINGTON THE DELAWARE HORSE EXPO, CALL 302-398-4630 FOR INCLUSION OR DETAILS!

------------------

 

---

Seated Left to Right Board members; Paula Barto, Pam Nebel, Ken Horeis and Kay Mildon .  Standing Left to Right;   Treasurer Kim Schwartz, Vice President Peggy Koster, President Stan Vonasek and Secretary Mary Everhart. (Not pictured: Dave Wilson & Jeri Berc)