A Decade of Change at RPI
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The following article appeared in the January 17 issue of the Troy Record.
By Ed Weaver
The Record
Here’s a list RPI’s biggest moments of the years
2000-2009.
Not all of them will be positive since the Engineers did a lot
more losing than winning in the past 10 years. These are the
biggest stories, however.
No. 1 -- Overcoming challenge to scholarships: The NCAA Division
III Presidents Association, headed by Middlebury’s John M.
McCardell, made a strong bid to prevent Division III institutions
such as RPI, Clarkson and St. Lawrence from playing at the Division
I level in one sport and granting a full allotment of athletic
scholarships. Division I soccer programs at Hartwick and SUNY
Oneonta, and lacrosse programs at Johns Hopkins and Hobart, would
have also been affected. Those schools, spearheaded by RPI
President Shirley Ann Jackson and then-athletic director Ken Ralph,
spent a fortune financially and months of their own time personally
to educate D-III members as to the importance of the
above-mentioned programs to not only their schools, but their
communities as well. The vote wasn’t close, and those
programs were allowed to keep their grandfather-legislated
scholarships. That clearly was the most important item of the
decade for RPI hockey and its fans.
Complete article can be accessed via the Record Web site by clicking here.
